Bellina Black
by Nienna Dorthonian
Summary: My name is Bellina Black, descendant to both the Malfoys and the Blacks. This is the story of my life.  Better explanation in the prologue. My first story. Rated T for language.
1. Prologue: Heritage

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter

Hi. My name is Bellina Marie Black, 7th year Slytherin and cousin to Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy currently a 5th year Slytherin. Now I know what you must be thinking- how the hell does Scorpius Malfoy have a cousin when his father, Draco, had neither cousin, nor sibling? Actually he did have a cousin: Nymphadora Tonks Lupin, but she's not my mother. Which means Teddy Lupin is also my cousin. He's already out of Hogwarts. He graduated out of Gryffindor, like his father. So now I bet you're absolutely confused. Who the hell could my parents be? Well let me give you a hint. My father is a pure blood wizard from the Scandinavian Mountains, or at least that's what my mother used to tell me. More then likely she has no idea who it is. My mother is a whole other story. (Laughter) On her mother's side she's Draco Malfoy's cousin. On her father's side however my mother is Draco's sister. That's right. My mother, Astrid Black, is the result of an affair between Bellatrix Lestrange and Lucius Malfoy. Can you imagine the drama? Drama. Story of my life. But we get into that story later. Now obviously no one has ever heard of my mother. Harry Potter didn't know, not even Albus Dumbledore knew about my mother. Hell I don't think Voldermort even knew and my grandmother was crazy about him. My mother was probably the best kept secret in the entire wizarding world. No one knew except my grandmother and grandfather, or should I call him Great Uncle Lucius? Not that he was great. Neither was Bellatrix actually. You're probably thinking that I'm a pureblood fanatic who wants to go around killing innocent people. Hell I don't even know if I _am_ pureblood. My mother on the other hand was just like her mother. So now you're probably asking why _she_ didn't become the next homicidal maniac. Simple: my mother is a squib. Now you know why she was kept a secret, a Black and a Malfoy and she can't use magic. Of course that didn't stop her from going insane. This is why she is now locked up in St. Mungo's, probably for the rest of her life. So of course I had to be taken care of since I was only six at the time. Lucius did tell everyone about the affair after my mother was locked up. So Auntie Cissa (she insists on me calling her that even now) wanted me to stay with her. You think she would be upset that her husband slept with her sister. But no, there's a child to be taken care of. Who cares about an affair? Well uncle/cousin Draco put his foot down on that. He didn't want me around a couple that are such bad influences… even though they are his parents. So I moved in with Draco and Astoria Malfoy and their son Scorpius who is more like a brother then a cousin. So that's about it. Although I should mention that just because I'm not like my ancestors, it doesn't mean I'm not dangerous. I am, but you'll find that out soon enough. Like I said earlier- it's the Story of My Life.

R&R pretty please


	2. Chapter 1: Drama

**Drama= SoML- Story of My Life**

Disclaimer: I do not own anything you may recognized

Oof! My head slammed into the wall behind me. That was going to leave a mark, and because of it he is now going to die. Yep, I Bellina Black am about to blast James Sirius Potter's ass into next Tuesday.

Potter stood across the corridor from me, a smirk on his face and his wand extended. Merlin that was such an infuriating smirk. Only I was allowed to give smirks like that.

I whipped my wand in his direction, using a nonverbal spell so he didn't know what was coming. The spell sent him flying backwards and he landed hard on his back. I smirked only to let it slide off my face seconds later. Potter had landed at the feet of Deputy Headmaster Neville Longbottom. Shit.

Normally professor Longbottom was an absolute sweetheart. Definitely one of my favorite teachers, even though I'm not a big fan of Herbology. At the moment however he looked extremely pissed. I can't say I blame him. If I had to break up a fight between two students at least three times a week for seven years I'd be pretty pissed too. And James Sirius Potter and I have been fighting since day one of first year.

It has nothing to do with the fact that Potter was a Potter. I got along with his siblings and cousins just fine. I _like_ them. James Potter however just rubbed me the wrong way, just by breathing.

"Potter, Black! Detention, 8pm, my office." Professor Longbottom said coldly.

Damn. There goes another night of practice with the quidditch team. They were gonna kill me. Professor Longbottom watched as we each went our separate ways, Potter went upstairs and I went down.

Stupid, stupid boy.

Never ending drama with him and it's only October. It's ridiculous. And I can't even blame him. I, myself start half our fights with insults, snotty comments, and once with a neat flipendo jinx. Students have won _money_ in betting the outcomes of our fights.

"Medelian Inheritance." I said to the brick wall guarding my house common room. A genetics term. Muggle stuff. Who would have thought? The wall shimmered and disappeared leaving an archway. I stepped through the archway and looked around the green and black décor room. Scorpius Malfoy and Albus Potter sat at a table playing wizard chess.

"Al your brother is an ass."

Albus snorted.

"What did he do now?" he asked without looking up.

"He left me with a giant lump on my head and an eight pm detention."

Scorpius laughed.

"Honestly Bells. You two are unbelievable."

I huffed at him while tucking my long black hair behind an ear.

"He started it." I muttered.

Albus' head shot up. Finally.

"Did he find out yet?"

I shrugged.

"If he did he wasn't letting on."

Al sighed.

"This won't be any fun if he doesn't find out."

"So then tell Rose to give him the slip." I drawled. Talking about James Potter was starting to bore me. Even though I was pulling a huge prank to piss him off. Well actually it wasn't really a prank. I was simply dating Potter's best friend, Steven Dragonii. And it's not like I'm using Steven. I really like him. I have since the fourth year. It's just a coincidence that he's Potters best friend and that going out with him would piss off Potter.

"Oh and let the team know I'm not making it."

Albus frowned.

"Again Bells? What the hell?"

"Blame your brother and my eight o'clock detention." I said irritably.

I turned from them and went to my dorm spending the rest of the day with my nose in a book. 8pm came and went. Detention was same as usual: quiet. Although Potter seemed more annoyed then usual.

"You may go." Professor Longbottom said at a quarter to ten. Potter grabbed his stuff and flew out the door. I followed a little more slowly, to give him time to disappear. Not that it mattered. He was still waiting for me, wand clenched in his hand.

"If I find out you're playing Steven there will be consequences." He spat acidly.

I didn't say anything. After all friends should be watching out for friends.

"Yea sure Potter." I hissed when I realized he was waiting for an answer. I don't know why I'm so angry. No reason more then likely. He just does that to me.

We stood there in silence for several minutes before he abruptly turned and walked away. Whatever. I stomped down to the dungeons muttering to myself about blockheaded Gryffindors.

Scorpius and Albus were waiting for me in the common room.

"Yes he knows." I said as I passed them.

"Well it's about time." Al said with shining eyes. I need to get him a girlfriend, especially if pissing off his brother is what he considers fun.

The next month passed on quietly. Well as quiet as Hogwarts can get. I didn't receive a single detention: school record. Mainly because Steven asked Potter to leave me alone. On the flip side I had to leave him alone too. I have much more fun being with Steven then I do dueling Potter every other second anyway. November was chilly and promised a winter full of snow. But more importantly the Quidditch season began.

**I appreciate reviews of all kinds. Thanks **


	3. Chapter 2: Betrayed by the Betrayer

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter

3 Enjoy 3

"I'm starting to get tired of this." I muttered.

Potter was glaring at me from the Gryffindor table. Ever since getting in a fight with Steven and calling him a betrayer every mealtime was the same; Potter would glare at me and Steven would blow me kisses.

"Of the kisses or the glares?" Al asked. He and Scorpius were sitting across from me, their backs to the Gryffindors. Not that it mattered; they obviously knew what was going on.

"The glares. The kisses are just fine." I responded, a small smile on my face. Scorpius pretended to gag on his food.

"Don't start Scorp. We all know who you've been kissing."

Scorpius turned bright red, while Al snickered beside him.

"So how are Rosie's kisses Scorp?" I asked sweetly. Scorpius, by this time, was red enough to be a Weasley.

"Leave him alone Bells. Before his head explodes from all the pressure. Although maybe we should call Rosie over to calm him down." Al said offhandedly.

I watched in amusement as Scorp's face turned stormy. And to think this was an emotionless Malfoy in front of me. My how times have changed.

"Chill Scorp. We're just teasing you." I said before he could blow up. I didn't need a fight in the Great Hall just now. I glanced at my watch. Dinner was just about over and it was almost time for Quidditch practice.

"Ready." I asked.

Both boys were all ready standing, their gear in their hands and identical smirks on their faces. What a bunch of smartasses. Quidditch season had just started with Gryffindor and Ravenclaw playing their first game the following day. In the past the Gryffindor team always managed to pull off first place with us Slytherins usually being a close second. We were usually followed by Ravenclaw and last by Hufflepuff. For what ever reason Hufflepuffs just couldn't seem to get a grip on the game, or at least not while I've been in school. This season looked like it was going to be a little different. Normally I watched the other teams during their practices. It wasn't against the rules; I just wanted to see how well the teams were playing. And this year may actually be the year we win. James Potter was made Gryffindor captain this year and that may be the reason they couldn't pull their game together during practices. *snicker*. Although, as much as I hate to admit it, he is a good keeper. Actually all three Potters are good. James, Gryffindor keeper, Albus, Slytherin seeker, Lily, Gryffindor chaser. It must be from their parents, Harry, youngest Gryffindor seeker in a century and most likely the best, and Ginny, once a chaser for the Holyhead Harpies before she decided to have a family. Me and Scorp are pretty good too, both of us chasers for Slytherins.

So usually Gryffindor/Slytherin matches are pretty intense; Keyword: usually. Ravenclaw seems to have a pretty good team this year, but we'll see once the matches actually start.

Our captain Peter Pettier has been pushing us to our limits four times a week for hours. I don't mind though. If there is one thing I love besides my family its Quidditch. Besides us Slytherins have the best team by far this year and we're going to prove it.

Practice started same as usual; warm up laps around the pitch. It is November after all and a good warm up always makes practice that much better. Actually now that I think about it all of practice was same as usual. Peter had us working on some new maneuvers, ones we were mastering beautifully. It was a good practice even if it was just like all the others. So good in fact that Peter let us leave ten minutes early. He's extremely strict when it comes to practice and he never let us leave early. Not that I minded. I was meeting up with Steven for some one-on-one time.

It was so hard going out with him. Potter is constantly breathing down are necks. I don't understand why Steven won't let me hex him.

I rushed out of the changing room to quickly put my broom in my dorm. Once done I evaded everyone in the common room and slipped back out. Curfew wasn't in place yet but I still don't like people watching me as I go about my business. So I checked and double checked my steps: no one following. It's a nervous habit of mine, I don't like people following me and sticking their noses into my business.

Our meeting place was a simple classroom on the 5th floor. It was where we talked, kissed and complained. Well actually only I complained and it was usually about Potter, Steven simply laughed. These meetings were some of the few times where I felt like Bellina, not another bitchy Slytherin out to make someone's life a living hell. Again that would be Potter, but I digress. I loved Steven for being there for me, for being able to see the real me in those peaceful moments.

I glanced at my watch as I approached the door. I was early, but of course I got out of practice early so that was expected.

I slowly opened the door and quietly stepped inside. I'm glad I was quiet. Things could have turned out to be a lot uglier. The first thing I noticed was that there was a light on, a lamp light. The next thing I noticed was the noises coming from behind the Professor's desk. Somebody was getting on hard. So what did I do? Peeked of course. I'm a seventeen year old female. It's not like I didn't know what was going on. When I think about it I kinda wish I hadn't. But then again it probably was for the best.

I peeked around the desk to find my boyfriend, Steven Dragonii, screwing the brains out of some blonde bimbo. He was grunting as he thrusted into her and she was moaning and squirming underneath him.

My mouth dropped open. I was shocked. Uncharacteristically I quietly backed up and left the room, as quiet as when I had entered. I walked down the corridor and up the stairs, or at least I must have because when I came to my senses I was on the 7th floor and I know I don't know how to fly. So walking is the only answer.

My mind was in complete shock. I couldn't think. I couldn't process. I wonder if my ancestors ever found themselves in this position. If they did they probably would have blasted Steven into the next galaxy. My first memory after what I had seen was the sound of footsteps.

I stepped backwards into the deep shadows of a suit of armor but my shocked brain slowed my reaction and they had seen me move.

"Who's there?" a voice whispered.

I mentally groaned. Of all people to catch me now in this state, it had to be James Sirius fucking Potter. I didn't say anything. Maybe for once in his life he wouldn't be nosy and just walk away. As you can imagine my luck had all but vanished for the evening. A whispered lumos spell lit the area I was hiding in.

"Black?" he said harshly. Why did he sound slightly confused?

"What the hell happened?"

I blinked at him in confusion. Huh? It was then that I realized that there were tears streaming down my face. Damn my inability to recoup quickly.

"None of your business Potter!" I hissed. At least I could still do that.

James gave me a guilty look. He knew.

"You knew?" I asked. I hated the weakness in my voice. This should not be tearing me up like this. Where was my pride and dignity?

James looked uncomfortable.

"Yea I knew."

The tears fell faster.

"Since when?" I didn't really want to know but at the same time I knew I needed to know.

"Almost from the beginning." His answer was barely audible and his discomfort was very obvious.

"Why didn't you say something?" James raised an eyebrow at me. Yea I know stupid question. But in case you haven't noticed I'm a bit distressed and not thinking coherently.

"How did I not notice?"

James went back to looking uncomfortable while I broke down completely.

Now you're probably thinking: Why all the tears? I'm a Slytherin and a Black; just by my ancestors I should have been emotionless and seeking out my revenge. I believe I have already said on a number of occasions that I am nothing like my family. I was raised by Draco Malfoy and if there was one thing he hated it was our ancestry. The complete breakdown? Simple. Steven Dragonii meant the world to me. I know the main reason I started dating him was to piss off James but I did-do- have feelings for him. And as time went on those feelings only deepened. Now I find out he's been cheating on me from the beginning.

My shocked state of mind disappeared in a heartbeat. Now the old Bellina was back, the bitchy Slytherin who was now royally pissed off. With my brain on fire I suddenly remembered all the little things that could have-should have- alerted me. My fists clenched. That bloody fucking wanker.

I opened my mouth to say something to James. Probably to get out of my way so I could go kill his best friend. However I never got the chance. I was stopped by soft lips. _His_ soft lips. James Sirius fucking Potter was kissing me! He pushed me against the wall, one hand around my waist the other resting against the wall above my head. I was shell shocked for about two seconds before wrapping my arms around his neck and pulling him closer. He tasted so damn sweet. I opened my mouth granting him entrance when he nipped my bottom lip. I groaned as he pushed his hips against mine trying to get as close as possible. It was like bloody fucking heaven on earth. Every girl knew how hot and ripped James Potter was, even I did. But to feel that body, those muscles grinding against your own was like taking two hits of ecstasy. Not that I have any experience with that, *cough*, um yea that's another story.

Anyway… it was several minutes before James pulled his face away from mine, allowing us to catch our breaths.

"James." I whispered breathlessly. I'll be honest, that was probably the best kiss I've ever experienced, and I've kissed quite a few blokes. He looked into my eyes, his fingers gently brushing away remnants of my earlier tears. At that particular moment I couldn't even remember why I had even been crying. Then James smiled. And oh my Merlin I think my heart stopped. It wasn't the usual smirk he gave me or even the lopsided smile he usually flashed the ladies. This was a genuine smile. He never looked at me like that. Hell I've never seen him look at anyone like that. A perfect smile on his face, eyes shining brilliantly; a halo would have been perfect right about then, or at least a glowing nimbus.

I must have looked as shocked as I felt because his smile slipped into a smirk and he turned and began walking away. I immediately felt the loss of his closeness.

"James!" I said. This is the second time I called him by his first name out loud. I know he just kissed me but really? He turned and winked at me before continuing down the corridor.

I stood still for several minutes. I probably would have stood there all night if it wasn't for the fact that I heard Peeves coming singing a song about first years being flushed down the loo by a dungbomb. Is it possible for poltergeist to go mental?

I hurried back down to the dungeons where I knew I wouldn't get in trouble even if I was caught. That's what happens when you're the favorite of your Head of House. I wouldn't get in trouble… but he sure as hell would. Steven Dragonii, my 'beloved' boyfriend, was standing outside the Slytherin house entrance.

He did _not_ look happy. Ha. Join the club.

"Where have you been? We were supposed to meet up tonight." He said when I got closer. I was about to give him a piece of my mind when I saw the concern and worry in his eyes. I hesitated. With everything that just happened to me I just couldn't deal with this shit now.

"Sorry. I have a lot on my mind right now." I pecked him on the cheek, even though that almost made me gag, and went into my common room. He stared after me in confusion. No one was in the common room. After all it was way past curfew and there were classes tomorrow. I plopped down on the couch and drew my legs to my chest, hugging myself. My mind was full of mixed thoughts and emotions but one memory kept surfacing out of the mess: James' soft lips kissing my own.

Please R&R….. please…


	4. Chapter 3:Plans for Revenge

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter; just the plot line and my OC

Thank You ErLu4ever for reviewing

I simply can not believe it's almost time for Christmas break. Two weeks ago I found out that Steven has been cheating on me, seen it with my own eyes. And James… well James kissed me two weeks ago. Now, two weeks later, I'm still with Steven and the looks James has been throwing in my direction have been nastier then ever. Why am I still with Steven? I simply don't have the heart to call him out on the betrayal, I like him too much. My grandmother Bellatrix is probably rolling around in her grave.

"Hey Bells!"

I looked up in time to see Madam Pince giving my cousin a stern look.

"Hey." I said softly, "Where's Al?"

"Talking with Rose and Lilly." Scorpius hesitated before going on, "James' been acting really weird last couple of weeks. He even almost got into a fight with Dragonii this morning. Well actually it was a fight." He continued thoughtfully.

My head had been down bent over my work as Scorpius talked but it snapped up at his last sentence.

"About what?" I asked intently. James Potter and Steven Dragonii have never fought. They were best mates.

"No one really knows. There are a lot of guesses though. I mean Dragonii had a wand and was ready to hex James into oblivion."

"Is he okay?" I asked fiercely.

"Well yea. I mean he was the one with the wand."

"Not Steven. Is James okay?"

Scorpius gave me a weird looked before nodding the affirmative.

"Lilly broke up the fight before it got really ugly."

Good old Lilly. She may be the youngest of the Weasley/Potter clan but she was the last person you wanted to mess with. She got her temper from her grandmother and her efficiency with the bat bogey hex from her mother. I sat back in my seat going over this new information. Scorpius was still looking at me funny.

"What?" I said irritably. I've been irritable a lot lately.

Scorpius hesitated again before saying, "Are _you _worried about James Potter?"

I folded my arms across my chest defensively.

"So what if I am." It's not my fault I can't get the bloody bloke out of my head.

Scorp's mouth dropped open. He looked like a platinum blonde haired fish. This normally would have been funny if this had happened during any other conversation.

"I knew it!" he exploded. Luckily Madam Pince wasn't around to glare.

"That explains everything. Everyone just figured their fight was James complaining about you and Dragonii dating again. The Gryffindors say they do it all the time."

Gryffindors are talking about me? Yay…

"And?" I prompted with a raised eyebrow.

"And I told them they were wrong." Scorp continued excitedly, "Something just didn't feel the same."

"Well what do you know? You actually figured something out on your own."

He ignored my sarcastic remark.

"Well? What's going on?" he demanded.

For once I hesitated. No one knew about the incident from two weeks ago. Either incident for that matter. I was still trying to get my head wrapped around it and other people's opinions would have just made my confusion worst. But this was my little cousin, my baby brother, my family. If I couldn't trust him and confide in him then who the hell could I turn to? I sighed and fidgeted with my hair. Another nervous habit of mine.

"You promise not to tell anyone? Not even Al?" I asked seriously. Scorpius and Albus were best mates, have been since their first train ride to Hogwarts. But me and Scorp were even closer.

"Promise big sister."

I smiled. He used to say that to me when we were little and making promises not to tell anyone about all the mischievous things we did. I quickly told him about the incident. Both incidents. If he wanted to know I was going to tell him everything. The only thing I left out was the intensity of that kiss. That was kind of private.

"How come you're still with the cheating wanker?" he asked angrily.

I shrugged.

"I honestly couldn't tell you Scorp. But I do know I need to end it. Especially before things get ugly in the Gryffindor common room. I just don't know how."

"Slytherin style." He responded, a smirk on his face.

"What?"

"He cheated on you Bells. You can't just dump him. You have to get revenge first. Like a true Slytherin would."

I laughed.

"We do, do that don't we?" I said. Maybe grandmother Bellatrix will stop rolling in her grave after this.

Scorpius suddenly frowned.

"Do you like James?"

"What! Me! That's fucking ridiculous!" I said quickly. A little too quickly.

"Maybe, maybe not. Honestly Bells I think you might."

"Why? Just because he kissed me?" I hissed. I did not like James Potter. I couldn't. That was wrong on so many levels. Wasn't it?

Scorpius shrugged, but there was still a frown on his face.

"Whatever. Let's worry about revenge on Dragonii first."

I nodded and tried to swallow the lump that had formed in my throat.

"We might need Al, Rose and Lilly's help."

"Why?" I asked warily. I'm still not sure how many people I want to know about me being played.

"Well Lilly and Rose have access to Dragonii that we don't. And you know how much Al hates Dragonii. He might have some good ideas."

I sighed. They were in a way family after all.

"Fine. Let's go find them."

A short trip to the main entrance later and we found the two Potters and their cousin talking by the Great Hall door. Scorpius and Rose greeted each other with a kiss. Al gagged.

"You need a girlfriend." I mumbled to him disapprovingly.

"Hey guys." Lilly said enthusiastically. I sighed knowing they would pick up on my mood instantly.

"What's wrong?" Al demanded. Sometimes he acted more like a big brother then a little brother.

"We have a problem." Scorp said darkly. And Scorpius was like Al's identical twin.

I told them all about the incident but omitting the part about James and _that_ incident. They didn't really need to know yet if ever.

"How could he?" Rose asked. Al and Lilly had identical looks of anger on their faces. It's nice to know I have such a loving family.

"Well what are we gonna do about it?" Al demanded. A small smirk slipped onto my face.

"We have plans to make."

I sighed. Steven was going on and on and on. About James surprisingly. Usually it was me doing all the complaining. Kind of ironic how our positions changed.

"Really Steven I didn't come here tonight to listen to you bitch about Jam-Potter."

Whoops. That could have been awkward. Luckily for me Steven was too annoyed to notice my almost slip-up.

"But he's being such a douche-bag."

"You haven't even told me what he did to you."

"Does it matter?" he asked evasively.

I almost snorted.

"What did you want to talk to me about?" I asked instead. He took my hands in his and looked at me with an adoring expression. Honestly he was such a prick. Did he really think I would melt in that expression? Except three weeks ago I probably would have. Hell it took all my will power not to melt right at that moment.

"I wanted to talk about moving our relationship to the next level."

I simply stared at him. My hand was itching to slap him, or hex him. He's been screwing Merlin knows how many dumb broads and now he wanted to sleep with me. What the hell for? There went any notion of melting that's for sure. I took a deep breath. I desperately needed to keep my anger in check if my revenge was to go off without a hitch. But Steven was making that increasingly difficult.

"I don't know Steven-" I got cut off as an owl flew through the open window. A school owl. It landed next to me and stuck out its leg. I carefully removed the rolled up parchment and then the bird took off. The note wasn't labeled with anything but my name so I opened it. It read:

OROOB ZMW R TLG VEVIBGSRMT DV MVVW. DV ZIV IVZWB DSVM F I.

R.W

"Is that some kind of joke?" Steven asked. He had been reading over my shoulder.

"Nope", I responded as I jumped up, "Look Steven we'll talk about this later okay."

I left him there looking baffled. Down the corridor I slipped into a hidden alcove and quickly deciphered my note.

LILLY AND I GOT EVERYTHING WE NEED. WE ARE READY WHEN U R.

R.W.

It was from Rose. I grinned. Time to get revenge.

R&R


	5. Chapter4:Revenge of the Bitchy Slytherin

Disclaimer: I don't own HP only the plot

Thank you to the few who have reviewed so far. Your thoughts are appreciated

This chapter is told in 3rd person

Monday

"Hey Bells!"

Bellina turned around to see Rose Weasley hurrying toward her.

"Hey Rose. What's up?"

"I just wanted to let you know that Uncle Harry said it was okay for you and Scorpius to stay over during the holidays."

"Awesome. That'll let Draco and Astoria enjoy their wedding anniversary in Italy in peace."

"Shouldn't you and Scorp be with them?"

"Nah. This trip was a present from me and Scorp."

Rose smiled.

"That's sweet. Oh one more thing."

"Yea?"

"Operation revenge of the bitchy Slytherin is a go."

Bellina smiled.

"Perfect."

"What the fucking hell!" Steven Dragonii was frustrated to say the least. James looked over at him from his bed. The two boys had sort of made up but things were still tense.

"What?"

"All my frickin boxers are gone!"

James snorted.

"Maybe your girlfriend needed knickers." He said. There was an acid undertone to his voice.

"Leave her alone James." Steven responded tiredly. He continued to search through his drawers in the vain hope of finding his underpants.

"She's been acting weird lately."

"That's nice."

"Why do you hate her so much?"

James sighed.

"We've had this argument before. I don't hate her and I'm not going into this right now."

The dorm room door opened and a pair of nervous looking second years entered.

"Whadya want?" James drawled.

"Um we were asked to get confirmation on a rumor." One of the boys mumbled.

"You write for the Hogwarts Gossip?"

"No. Some Ravenclaw writers asked us."

"What rumor?" Steven asked still looking through his drawers.

"They want confirmation that Steven Dragonii sleeps with a blankie."

"What!" Steven exploded. The two boys backed away, fright evident on their faces. James was fighting the urge to laugh.

"I think you better tell the Ravenclaws that the answer is no."

The two boys nodded at James hurriedly then scampered out of the room.

"What the hell was that all about?" Steven asked. He was seething.

"Beats me bro."

That night at dinner the newest edition of the Hogwarts Gossip held the following article:

7th Year Gryffindor Student Steven Dragonii Sleeps with a Blankie rumor confirmed.

Steven stalked out of the Great Hall with the entire school laughing behind him. Rose Weasley looked over at the Ravenclaw writers and smiled.

Tuesday

"How's the Blankie Dragonii?" a 5th year Gryffindor called out as James and Steven made their way through the common room.

"Fuck off." Steven snapped in response.

Lilly came in through the portrait just as the two boys reached it, a look of mild disgust on face.

"I wouldn't go out there if I were you Steven." She said cryptically as she passed them.

Steven looked at her in confusion before stepping out onto the 7th floor. The corridor was crowded and everyone was in an uproar. There was laughing and looks of disgust all around.

"What the hell?"

James stepped over to a pair of Gryffindors. When he came back he was laughing.

"Who the hell did you piss off lately?"

"What?"

"Your missing boxers are currently all over the school. A pair of Slytherins counted them all. There's a couple hundred of your boxers decorating Hogwarts."

"I don't even own that many."

"Well then they've been multiplying cause each boxer has your name on it in bright pink lettering."

Steven stomped down the corridor fuming while James followed laughing.

That night at night at dinner Steven was rushed to the hospital wing. In the middle of dinner he suddenly started puking and couldn't seem to stop. Several people laughed as James tried to help him out. No one noticed the box of Weasley Wizarding Wheezes puking pastilles on the bench next to a smiling Lilly Potter.

Wednesday

"You just have not been having a good week huh?" James asked as he and Steven headed to their dorm to get their brooms. It would be their last practice before break.

"No. And what's worse is Bellina will hardly talk to me."

James shrugged. He was pretty sure he knew why but he wasn't gonna say anything. That was Bellina's problem.

"This doesn't look good."

James looked up. Rose Weasley was hurrying toward them looking upset.

"Steven!" she called, "Someone's wrecked your stuff."

"What!"

"The dorm is an absolute wreck. Hurry."

Steven stared in horror. His personal things had been thrown all over the 7th year boys' dormitory. Most notably was his broom, or at least what was left of it. The pieces were on the floor and it looked like it had gone through a paper shredder.

"What the fuck?"

Steven kneeled on the floor gathering all the pieces together.

"Where's my wand?" he demanded feeling at his pocket. He knew he couldn't fix it but it was worth a try. Lilly Potter handed him his wand.

"Reparo."

Nothing happened. At least nothing happened to his broom. His wand on the other hand turned into a rubber chicken. Steven looked at it in amazement. Suddenly James started laughing. He was kneeling by Steven's bed.

"What?"

James reached under the bed and pulled out Steven's broom.

"Then what the hell is this?" he asked as everyone started laughing.

No one notice Albus Potter, a Slytherin, place Steven's wand on one of the beds and slip out the door with a nasty little smile on his face.

Thursday

"Every single day this week. And every single damn class today." Steven was once again fuming. Every one of his seats in each class had been covered in muck today. James bit his lip to keep from laughing. After all Steven was his friend even if James was pissed at him. They were heading up to bed after dinner. As they approached the portrait James saw Rose and Scorpius Malfoy talking quietly. Malfoy was holding a box of Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes portable swamp. James mentally shrugged and continued to the dorm. They entered the dorm and stopped short. Steven began letting off a string of curses. James couldn't blame him. His bed was covered in the same muck his seats had been covered in. It looked like a mini swamp.

"I'm getting tired of this." Steven said warily.

Friday

"I don't get it. What the hell have I ever done to anybody?" Steven complained.

"Beats me." Bellina said quietly.

They were walking towards the Great Hall for dinner. It was the first time all week that they had spent some time together, and despite the past week Steven was happy to be with her. The doors of the Great Hall opened on its own accord as they approached it. Somewhere inside a girl was hysterically crying. Above the faculty table was a huge moving picture of Steven Dragonii shagging a 5th year Hufflepuff. The teachers were desperately trying to remove it but their spells just kept going through. Steven stared at it in complete horror.

"Hm," Bellina said coldly," I would say that's what you've done to somebody."

She flicked her wand at the picture causing it to disappear in a puff of smoke. Then she looked at Steven.

"I understand this is shocking so I'll just clarify for you. We are through."

Then she turned and walked out of the Great Hall leaving the cheating arse behind her. James Potter was waiting outside for her.

"So it was you all along?"

"I had help from Scorp, Rose and your siblings." She responded. James nodded suddenly remembering the box of portable swamp.

"How did you get that picture up there?"

"It was a projection from my memory."

James nodded again. Then he walked away, his shoulders shaking from silent laughter.

Read and Review or else Bellina will be after you next… Thank you very much.


	6. Chapter 5: Hidden Feelings

**I know it's been awhile but between school and work I am losing my mind. So here is chapter 5 with chapter 6 following immediately :)**

I sighed contently as I watched the sun come up over the mountains. The light hit the lake making the water sparkle in the early morning light. It was Saturday and the events of the past week were finally over. Not that I didn't have fun making Steven's life hell but now I was finally through with him. Not that he really understood 'it's over'. I received at least two dozen owls last night, all from Steven all asking for forgiveness and a second chance. Bite Me.

We were all going home for Christmas break today. Me, Scorp, the Weasleys and the Potters. All of them. For once I'm not really all that concerned that I'm going to be stuck with James for two weeks.

I watched as Al and Scorp packed last minute as usual. In no time at all we were on our way to the Hogsmeade train station and then we were off. As I watched Hogwarts disappear behind a mountain I sighed in relief. Steven was staying at the castle for the holidays and wouldn't be able to bug me on the train in person. To think I had almost agreed to stay with him. Ha.

We arrived at platform 9 ¾ late afternoon. Ten minutes of greetings and some side along apparition later and we were all safely at the Potter's house, minus the Weasleys of course.

As evening descended I sat at the window in the bedroom I shared with Lilly. Outside James was being ganged up on by his siblings, Scorpius, his uncle George and George's two children, with snowballs.

"Bellina?"

I turned from the window to find Ginny Potter standing at the door.

"Hi Mrs. Potter."

"Not in the mood for a snowball fight?"

"No. It's too cold."

Ginny nodded.

"Why don't you come help me make dinner then?"

"Sure."

I followed Mrs. Potter to the kitchen. I like Ginny Potter. And Hermione Weasley too for that matter. They were like the mother's I never had. Not to say that Astoria Malfoy was a bad mother. But she was a high society witch after all and she wasn't the best at being, well, motherly.

"So how did the past week go?" she asked as we started preparing dinner. I looked at her questioningly.

"With Steven." She prompted. I laughed. I should have known Mrs. Potter would know. She knew about everything almost before it happens and she wasn't even there.

"Lilly mentioned it in one of her last letters."

I laughed again.

"He had a very tough week."

I detailed the incident, the week and my revenge on Steven for cheating on me. I left out the part about James. I kept her laughing for a good twenty minutes as I explained each day and how I had help from Scorpius, Albus, Rose, and Lilly. That was another cool thing about Ginny Potter. She had a great sense of humor.

"So now what?" she asked when I was done. I leaned against the counter, a frown on my face. I had spent the day thinking about the question Scorpius had asked me a week and a half ago. And as much as I didn't really want to admit it, I had finally come to a startling conclusion.

"Mrs. Potter would you be surprised if I told you I fancy your son."

Mrs. Potter looked shocked.

"Albus?"

I blinked at her. What?

"Um. No. I meant James."

Ginny Potter laughed.

"Well if you meant him then no I'm not really all that surprised. You two have a lot in common. That might be why you're always butting heads. You two would make a really cute couple I think."

I continued to chop up vegetables while I thought. I guess James and I did have some things in common. We both loved quidditch; both had good grades, loving families, same taste in music (which was actually shocking when Al first told me.). Hm.

I spent the next few days before Christmas deep in thought. Well sure saying that I fancy James was easy but the question was did he fancy me back? That immediately brought back the memory of the second incident. When he kissed me. So now what?

Suddenly it was Christmas Eve and the house was full of Weasleys. I was sitting on the couch between Albus and Percy Weasley. Percy was going on about the Ministry and its greatness. Yea…great…right.

"Bellina sweetie. Can you help me for a minute?" I sighed in relief, excused myself from Uncle Percy and then made my way over to Ginny.

"Yes Mrs. Potter."

She had a slight frown on her face.

"I know James hates socializing as much as his father but this is family. Can you go see where he disappeared to?"

"Sure."

I left the family room and made my way upstairs. He was probably in his room. I knocked on his door once reaching it and waited. After a second it opened revealing a topless James. Oh my Merlin. My eyes were glued to his well muscled chest and I seemed to be having sudden problems breathing.

"Oi. Whadya want?"

I snapped out of my daze and looked at his face. He was smirking.

"Your mother wants you to come downstairs. And I would put a shirt on if I were you. You don't want to scare any of your little cousins." I said coolly.

James' smirk got wider.

"More like you don't want to be caught drooling."

I rolled my eyes. What an arse. Even if he was right. James threw on a shirt and walked down the stairs just ahead of me. I followed trying to get the picture of his abs out of my head. It wasn't working. Just as we got to the family room he stopped short and I crashed into him.

"What the fuck?" I grumbled. I tried to walk around him but I couldn't get through the doorway. I gazed around the room. Albus and Scorpius were laughing hysterically, many of the adults were smiling and Mrs. Potter was smirking.

"Um Bellina." James said quietly. He sounded nervous. I looked up at him and then followed his gaze up toward the ceiling. Mistletoe. Most likely enchanted. I looked at the smirking Mrs. Potter again. She is no longer my most favorite person in this house. I grabbed James' arm to turn him towards me. Might as well get this over with right?

I pulled his face toward me and kissed him. Before I could pull away however he snaked an arm around my waist and pulled me closer. His free hand cupped my face as he deepened the kiss. I forgot where I was, who I was, as I wrapped my arms around James' neck. And then…someone coughed. I pulled away from James like he was on fire. I just snogged James Sirius Potter in front of his entire family. Shit.

The color in James' face had drained and he was staring at everybody like a deer caught in headlights. After a few seconds he bolted from the room and his family's eyes turned towards me. Great. What a chicken. Albus and Scorpius were making kissing noises from the couch.

"You can go finish in private if you like." Mrs. Potter suggested a smirk still on her face.

"Just make sure you use the proper protection." George Weasley said in mock seriousness.

"Condoms!" Al and Scorp shouted in unison. Rose rolled her eyes as Angelina smacked her husband upside the head.

"What?" George protested, "I didn't say it."

"Daddy what's a condom?" Seven year old Lucy asked. All eyes turned to a scarlet Percy Weasley. At that point I slipped out of the room. As much as I would have liked to know how that question was going to be answered I needed to escape before anyone remembered I was there. I went upstairs to my room and closed the door. Then I stifled a scream. James was sitting on my bed his head in his hands. He looked up at me.

"Um. Are you okay?"

"No. You scared me. I wasn't expecting you to be here."

"Um Bellina I just wanted to apologize for what just happened."

"The kiss? Or leaving me there to face your family on my own?" I asked sitting on the bed next to him. He gave me an embarrassed grin.

"Both I guess." We sat in silence after that. I guess he's just a hormonal teenage boy after all. You'd be surprised how much that thought hurt. To like a boy and know he didn't like you back. At least not in the same way.

"Well I gotta go." He said suddenly. I sat there for the rest of the night my thoughts on the second Gryffindor that broke my heart.

The next week and a half passed without any incidents. The Weasleys had left Christmas morning and the house was once again quiet. James avoided me and I barely spoke to anyone. On our last night I was holed up in my room reading a new book I received from Mr. and Mrs. Ron Weasley. I started at a knock on my door.

"Yes?" I said irritably. I was getting to a good part and I hated being interrupted. The door opened and in entered James. He dropped a box on my lap then sat down at the end of my bed. I raised an eyebrow at him as I put my book down. Then I looked at the box. It said Happy Christmas on it. A Christmas present? I had given James a present simply because I got everyone else something, just like every year. This is the first time he's actually given something to me. I opened the box to reveal a silver locket adorned with red rubies, my favorite gemstone. Ironic no? I opened the locket to see a picture of Scorp, Al, Rose, James and I at the beginning of Al, Scorp and Rose's first year. The other side of the locket was empty. I looked up at James with tears forming in my eyes.

"Oh James. I love it." I threw myself into his arms and hugged him. This seemed to shock him.

"Oh okay good." He mumbled into my shoulder.

"Um James. Can you help me?" I was struggling with the tiny clasp that just didn't seem to want to close. He brushed my hair aside and took the clasp from my hands. It was as he was fixing the necklace that I realized I was straddling him. Oops. Completely unintentional…maybe. As he tried to fix the clasp his lips found my neck and he began leaving butterfly kisses on my neck and collarbone. Soon the locket was forgotten as he moved his lips up to mine. I wrapped my arms around his neck not wanting to ever let go. Then he started laughing.

"What the fuck?" I asked irritably as I moved away from him. He grabbed my hand and pulled me into a hug.

"Sorry. I was just thinking at how Lilly would react if she walked in right now."

I rolled my eyes. Then I stood up and pulled on his arm. Well if he's worried about Lilly's sanity then that's what _his_ bedroom was for.

I woke up early in his bed all on my own. But that didn't stop the smile from blossoming on my face. I practically skipped downstairs to the kitchen where everyone was having breakfast.

"Morning sleepy head." Mrs. Potter said. She made up the mistletoe incident to me when she realized it only made things worse between James and me. She is once again my favorite person in the household.

"Good morning." I said cheerily as I made my way toward Lilly.

"Where were you last night?" she whispered once I had breakfast on my plate.

"Your brother's room." I responded just as quietly. Lilly looked over to where Al and Scorp were having a fake wand battle, then she gave me a funny look. I rolled my eyes.

"Your other brother." I said clarifying. A look of understanding dawned on her face.

"Does that mean you…"

I shook my head slightly.

"We only went as far as a serious snogging session. Disappointed?" I asked with a smirk.

"Yes! I want to be an aunt!" she exclaimed a little too loudly. All eyes turned to us and Lilly's face turned the same color as her hair.

"What are you talking about girls?" Harry Potter asked from behind his newspaper.

"Nothing." We said in unison. James' face was bright red. I can't wait to get back to Hogwarts.

**Please read and review**

**And in case your wondering Bellina has always liked James. It just took her almost 7years to figure it out**


	7. Chapter 6: Loss of Family

**Yay Chapter 6!**

January was cold and snowy. A huge snowstorm hit our lonely little castle at the end of the month and carried over into the first week of February. But all the snow didn't stop the amount of work piled on the N.E.W.T and O.W.L. students. Before I knew it Valentine's Day was upon us and the younger students went out of their way to decorate the entire castle in pink and red. It reminded me of the story about Gildroy Lockhart that Draco once told me.

"Today's my favorite day of the year." Al declared. He dumped an armful of chocolate on top of my books.

"Don't you have work to do?" I snapped irritably. Valentine's Day is _not_ one of my favorite days of the year. People tend to go overboard with the silliness and the gooiness on this day. Annoying.

"Oh cheer up Bells. Even Madam Pince is in a good mood today." Scorpius said sitting down.

"Where's your chocolate?" Al asked while opening a chocolate frog.

"I have a girlfriend Al. I don't get chocolates from random girls anymore."

Al shook his head muttering something about girlfriends, prisons, and no fun. Really he needs a girlfriend.

"No chocolates for you cuz?"

"A few." I responded. I tried not to think about what I really wanted though. James hadn't spoken to me much since we came back to Hogwarts. Although I think Steven Dragonii had something to do with that. He still sent the occasional hurt look my way. It was rather annoying because now I can't tell if James actually likes me or not. Would anyone be horrendously surprised if I decided to blast Dragonii into oblivion?

"I'm going for a walk." I said suddenly.

"Where?" Al asked opening another chocolate frog.

"Around the lake."

"In the snow!"

"Yep."

I dropped my stuff off in my dorm and bundled up against the weather. It was slow going through the snow. Paths had been cleared to the greenhouses and Hagrid's hut but nobody in their right mind would go to the lake in this weather. Which means I'm not in my right mind. I used my wand to clear off a snow covered rock and sat down. Ten minutes passed before I had any company.

"What are you doing out here?"

I sighed to myself. James Sirius Potter. Can't a girl get any quiet time around here?

"Taking a break."

"From what?" he asked. He then sat on my rock and pulled me into his lap. I froze for a moment before relaxing into his embrace. This was strange. For a guy that hardly talked to me, never spent time with me, he was awfully touchy feely. And not in the 'I just want a shag' way. It was very comfortable and I felt like grinning. Maybe he did like me after all.

"From what?" he asked again. Shit. I forgot he even asked the question.

"Oh um studying." I answered.

He nodded in understanding. Then it was silent. A comfortable silence. The thing about me and James is when we aren't fighting, we aren't talking. Silence was normal between us, therefore comfortable. With Steven silences always became awkward after a few seconds.

"I have something for you." I looked up at him questioningly. He shifted slightly in order to put his hand in his pocket without having to let go of me. He really is sweet.

"It is Valentine's Day after all." He mumbled. He pulled a long black velvet box out of his pocket and placed it on my lap. I opened the box to see a silver charm bracelet. Dangling from it was a broom, a heart, the Hogwarts school crest, a ruby and a snake. I laughed as I stood up and hugged him.

"I love it." He smiled at me before pulling me back down into his lap. We sat there for a long time before my world fell apart.

"I can't believe we sat there for so long." James grumbled. He was holding my hand and leading me through the entrance hall. I didn't answer. I was freezing and could barely control my shivering. Not the best of feelings. James continued to lead me until we got to the stairs. His common room was upstairs, mine was down.

"Meet back here in a half hour."

"Library." I said through chattering teeth. Cute. I can't even talk right. James nodded then reluctantly let go of my hand. But before I could move away he grabbed it again and gave me a kiss. Then he went up the stairs. I on the other hand all but floated down the stairs. I was in such a state of bliss that I didn't notice the hushed voices in the common room until I approached the little group.

Several students were surrounding a single table in the back corner by the door to the dorms. They looked up as I came closer and then moved aside when my attention was focused on them. Scorpius and Albus sat at the table, a letter in Al's hand. There were tears streaming down my cousin's face.

"Scorp?" I stepped over to him quickly and pulled him into my arms.

"They're dead Bells. Dead." He moaned into my chest. I looked at Albus for an explanation. He looked back at me sadly.

"The ministry sent Scorp a letter. Draco and Astoria Malfoy were found dead in the Malfoy Mansion this morning." He said quietly.

My mind immediately went blank. The words simply bounced around the inside of my head. I blacked out at that point. I honestly could not tell you what happened after that. I do not remember and I never bothered asking anybody. When I came to I was standing on top of the Astronomy tower, the wind pulling at my hair and tears streaming down my face.

The tears just wouldn't stop. As hard as I tried I just couldn't hide my emotions. It hurt too much. The man that taught me everything I knew, the one who raised me since I was six years old, was dead. The wind tugged at my long black hair. The Astronomy tower had always been my special place to get away from all the stress. Stress used to be defined as James Potter. But now it did nothing for me, nothing except maybe give me away out from all the pain. I glanced down the side of the tower. It was a long way down.

I know I don't talk about Draco much but he was the best father a girl could ever have. He taught me everything he could and loved me unconditionally, even though I wasn't his own. He spoiled me rotten and as a little girl I had loved every minute of it. And now I would never see his loving face again.

"Bellina?"

I dashed away the tears on my face although they were immediately replaced with fresh ones.

"What James?" My voice was surprisingly emotionless despite all the tears and all the pain.

"Are you okay?" Of all the damn insensitive questions he could have asked me.

"Sorry stupid question." His voice came from directly behind me. Well at least he knew. James wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me into his chest.

"I'm sorry Bellina."

'For what?" You didn't kill them." Emotion cracked my voice.

"I know. I'm sorry for all the things I've done to you over the years."

I pulled away from him in order to get a look at his face. He looked a bit embarrassed.

"You're apologizing now! Of all times?"

He looked down at his feet.

"Yea."

"What do you want?" I asked warily. I was just not in the mood for this. His arms wrapped around me again and he rested his chin on my shoulder.

"Nothing."

"Then why are you here?"

"Cause you need me." The tears started again at this point. I hadn't even noticed that they had stopped. When I thought about it I realized that I really did need him. I sobbed uncontrollably and he simply held me offering his comfort.

I would never forget this night; the night when my world fell apart and James Sirius Potter held together all the crumbling pieces.

The following week disappeared in a flurry of owl feathers as people from all over sent their condolences for our loss. They didn't mean anything to me. And they wouldn't until Draco's killer was brought to justice.

"Bellina please eat something." Rose pleaded. She had taken to sitting at the Slytherin table for meals because of how much Scorpius needed her support. She apparently thought I needed it too.

"I'm not hungry."

"I haven't seen you eat all week. If you don't your going to end up passing out in class from lack of nutrition."

Merlin she sounds just like her mother. Always lecturing.

"Don't make me get Lilly."

I sighed before giving in. Lilly Potter was just not someone you messed with. I believe I've mentioned that before. So I ate. I really did need it. I haven't been starving myself the past week but my appetite has definitely dropped.

"Owls are here." Scorpius said dully. Surprisingly Hedwig the second landed on the table in front of me and stuck her leg out.

"What does Dad want with you?" Al asked confused. I didn't answer. I was too busy getting my letter. Not that I really had an answer anyway. I haven't heard from Mr. Potter since Christmas. He didn't exactly write to me everyday. Hell I think this is the first time I ever even received a letter from him. I had a suspicion it was about the Malfoys though. After all Harry Potter is the head of the Auror department.

"It just says 'I'm coming'."

"Coming here?" Rose asked.

I shrugged then looked at Scorpius who was reading a letter of his own.

"McGonagall wants to see us after breakfast. Lemon drop." I winced at his monotonous voice. He's been like a living puppet.

"Well I'm done so lets go." I said standing up.

"But Bellina you didn't eat anything." Rose protested.

"I know. Wasn't going to anyway." I said truthfully. The walk to the third floor was quiet. All the students were at breakfast or getting ready for class, and Scorpius and I didn't really have anything to talk about.

We entered the Headmistress' office to find Harry Potter pacing back and forth in a state of agitation.

"There you two are!" He exclaimed when he finally looked up.

"Hello Mr. Potter. What can we help you with?" I asked.

"Well first of all I want to say sorry for two things. I know how hard it is to lose parents." He paused for a second then continued, "And secondly for the investigation not being started any sooner then today. Things just have been really hectic at the office."

"What investigation?" I asked. Scorpius was just staring at the wall. I'm not even sure he was aware of the conversation.

"Of your parents' murders."

"Murder." I echoed. I knew they had been murdered. I knew that. It was still just so hard to process and accept.

"Yea. We don't know how they died yet but we do now they were burned to ashy husks afterwards."

Scorpius shuddered beside me.

"After?" I asked wrapping an arm around Scorpius.

"Yes. There was blood all over the place, mostly Draco and Astoria's. We do have one unknown sample however." Harry paused suddenly remembering who he was talking to.

"Uh, but you guys don't need to hear any more about that. I just came to ask a few questions."

"Like?" My arm tightened around my cousin.

"I know that Draco had a lot of enemies but can you guys think of anyone that recently gave Draco or Astoria any real problems?"

I shook my head after a moments thought.

"We've been in school and they didn't mention anything to us. Besides most of their enemies took them to court. It was more of a political hate then anything else."

"What about personally?"

The questions came one after another as Harry tried to get a clue towards a suspect. I answered him as best I could but honestly I never took an interest into the Malfoy business and Astoria had no job. The Malfoys were never really close to anyone but they didn't have any personal enemies as far as I knew. After two hours Harry left just as frustrated and agitated as when he came in.

"The will be read this weekend. I'll be picking you both up Friday night." He said as he left. I watched as he flooed out of the office leaving me and Scorp alone.

"Bellina I'm going to go find Rose."

I nodded and then let him go.

"You should go find James. He looked worried when we left the Great Hall after breakfast." I nodded absently. I glanced around the silent office and then left.

Seventh years were in Transfiguration at that time and class was already half over. I knew that McGonagall didn't expect me and Scorp to go to class but I hated the fact that I was missing so much. I barely went to any of my classes the past week, I just couldn't concentrate.

I slowly walked towards Transfiguration on the first floor. I wasn't going to go to class but James was in there and so if I wanted to talk to him I would have to go to the classroom. Half an hour later class let out and I watched as the Gryffindors and Slytherins filed out. When I saw James I ran up to him and threw my arms around his waist. I felt him tense but he still put his arms around me. I could understand the tension. Before Christmas break we had hated each other's guts. After Christmas, though we didn't fight, we didn't really talk either. Now I was hugging him in public. I glanced over at Dragonii who had walked out with him. Steven wasn't looking at us but he was definitely pissed. Too bad. I buried my face in James' chest again.

"Um Bellina are you okay." He murmured in my ear. I shook my head. I could feel tears forming again. The death of my parents had finally sunk in when Mr. Potter had mentioned murder. James disengaged himself for my embrace and took my hand.

"I'll see you later Steven."

"But class." He protested. James just shrugged and then he led me up the stairs. He brought me to the Gryffindor common rooms.

"Sugar bloom." He said to the portrait of the fat Lady. She opened to let us enter and I dimly thought that it was strange for James to say the password in my presence. But I guess it didn't really matter. He led me up to the boy's dormitory and left me standing next to his bed.

"Do you want to talk about it?" He asked as he dug around in his wardrobe.

"Not really." I responded dully. He then tossed me one of his shirts which I looked at in confusion.

"The bathroom is over there." He said gesturing. He had his back to me. I entered the bathroom still slightly confused but figuring he wanted me to change. Why was beyond me. When I exited the bathroom James was sitting on his bed in pajama bottoms. Seeing me changed he came over and scooped me up, then dropped me on his bed. I slid under the covers still slightly confused as to what was going on but as you can see I was going with it.

"Are you sure you don't want to talk about it?" he said slipping under the covers next to me. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me to his chest.

"There's nothing to say." I said quietly my head resting on his shoulder. I wanted to say something but what was I gonna say? My adopted parents were murdered? He already knew that and that was all that was upsetting me now. We laid there in silence for hours. Just before nightfall I drifted off into the first peaceful sleep I had in two weeks.

**R&R Pretty Please**


	8. Chapter 7: Personal Investigation

**Looong Chapter, or at least it was in my word document- 13 pages o.O**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter**

I barely noticed when February ended and March began. I _did_ notice that I woke up in James' bed every morning since that first time. Much to the horror of Steven and to the confusion of the rest of Gryffindor. Well actually much to the confusion of the entire school, except Lilly who walked around with a smirk on her face. Rumors started drifting through the corridors at Hogwarts which I ignored completely. It really wasn't so bad until some girls, jealous I'm assuming, kept asking questions. Personal and annoying questions. I hexed the leader of the group, got my first detention in months, but was left alone about me and James afterwards.

Draco's will had been read the last weekend in February. Not surprising he split everything he had in half; half for me and half for Scorpius. We jointly owned Malfoy Inc., the Malfoy business that had been passed down several generations. The business that neither Scorpius nor I wanted. Luckily for us Draco had a few loyal people that worked for him that were more then happy to run the business for us and make sure we got our pay. Everything else we left as it was, where it was. We just aren't ready to doing anything yet.

I certainly haven't recouped yet. Especially seeing as the Auror department was ready to give up and Harry Potter was about to rip out all his hair. It was frustrating to say the least. I received a letter from Mr. Potter every Friday morning, and they always said the same thing: Sorry, no leads yet. We're still working on it.

I was just about ready to give up and just let it lie. What was the point? It wasn't helping me move on or anything. Actually all it was doing was aggravating me. How hard could it be? I mean honestly how hard could it be to find a killer when the Auror department supposedly did this all the time. Just talking about it irritates me and so I'm not going to talk about it anymore. Instead I'll talk about the rest of my seventh year and how ignoring all my problems is going to turn around and bite me in the ass. But I'm getting ahead of myself, so I digress.

March continued the same way February ended: in a rather monotonous boring blur. I was surprised when April rolled around. I had three months left of Hogwarts before I was done with school and out on my own in the world. It was kind of scary. I was stuck. I had no idea want I wanted to do with my life. I never really thought about it. I always figured that I could continue to live with Draco and Astoria until I decided want it was I wanted to do. Obviously that is no longer an option. So now I was at a loss. Of course I always had the Malfoy family business to fall back on. But who wanted to sit behind a desk and boss people around all day, I mean really?

"Bellina what are you staring at?" Scorpius' voice penetrated my deep life thoughts.

"Huh?" I said stupidly. We were sitting outside underneath the big oak tree down by the lake on this, surprisingly rainless, day. Albus snorted from behind his books.

"I said what are you staring at?" Scorp repeated calmly. I blinked at him. I wasn't about to admit that I was staring at James Potter from afar.

"Nothing in particular." Albus snorted again. I ignored him because I wasn't really staring at James. Okay well maybe I was but I wasn't thinking of him. I was thinking of my future…which isn't very promising at the moment.

"I was thinking of my future." I said aloud. I'm curious to know what they would say.

Scorpius and Albus gave me blank stares. Oh for crying out loud.

"You know. What I'm going to do after Hogwarts." The realization was slow to hit. And they complain that my head is in the clouds.

"I forgot." Scorpius said quietly looking at the lake, "Your graduating this year."

"So what are you going to do?" Al asked putting down his book. Apparently my future is more interesting then studying for his OWLs. Which I guess in a way it is.

"I don't really know. I've never thought about it before and so I'm kind of at a dead end."

"James is going into Auror training this fall." Al said smirking at me. And what is that supposed to mean you little bugger?

"That's nice." I drawled, "But I'm not really that interested in what he's doing." By this time both Al and Scorp were smirking at me.

"I heard Dragonii might be joining him." Scorp said.

"Well that just destroyed whatever slight and minimal interest I may have had." I said. The less I had to do with Steven Dragonii the better. Albus frowned.

"Yeah. They were talking about it in the common room the other night. I think they're joining together."

"How in the world do you know what the hell is going on in the Gryffindor Common room?" I asked incredulously. Al gave me a sly glance.

"I have my sources." He said. Scorpius snorted.

"What about dad's business?" Scorpius asked going back to our previous conversation. We really did get off topic didn't we?

"I don't know Scorp. I mean it's nice that he left us with something to do and some income but being the CEO of an investment bank is just not my cup of tea."

Scorpius nodded.

"Yeah me either. I don't know what we're going to do with that."

"It's fine the way it is now. We have time before we really need to figure anything out. I just need to know what I'm going to do right after I graduate. You know me, I'm not one to just sit around and do nothing."

"Isn't the head of house supposed to talk to students about their futures?" Al asked.

"Well yeah they are. But because of what happened on Valentines Day, the faculty have kinda been giving me some space." I said. My heart throbbed when I said Valentines Day. It still hurt when I thought about it.

"I'm tired of thinking about this." Al said. I snorted before looking down into my book. What was he going to do in two years when he would have to think about this for himself?

"Pettier wants a last minute practice before the finals next weekend."

Both me and Scorpius flinched. Neither of us had been playing very well for the past couple of months. Slytherin was hanging onto their lead by a mere ten points.

"Yeah that might be good." Scorp said sheepishly.

"We're playing against Gryffindor so we _need_ to pick up our game. I won't have James rubbing it in my face all summer."

While Slytherin had slowly been getting worse, Gryffindor had been doing amazingly well since Christmas. The entire Slytherin team blames it on me. Why? I have no idea. They think _I_ make James a better captain. How does that even make sense?

"Oh shit-fucker." Al said in wonder.

"Language." I snapped, looking up from my book. Then I saw the spells flying down at the edge of the lake.

"Son-of-a-bitch." I said jumping up.

"Language." Albus and Scorpius chorused.

I think I've mentioned before about how those two are a couple of smartasses…here's more proof.

I watched as Hagrid pulled apart the two students who by this time had dropped their wands and resorted to fist fighting. Professor Longbottom had picked their wands up and was standing next to Headmistress McGonagall. McGonagall was shaking with anger. I could tell even from where I was. Those two students were in deep shit.

I watched as the faculty walked the students to the castle, separately of course. The first student was Steven Dragonii. I was surprised. Steven is not the violent type. The second student that passed us was James.

"Whoa. Did we miss something?" Scorp asked. I should probably mention that he's been getting better as time goes on. Like me it still hurts but not as badly. I should probably do something nice for Rose Weasley one of these days.

"Since when does James and Steven argue, let alone fist fight?" he continued looking from me to Al. I shrugged. Those two had been best friends since first year. They never fought. Not even when Steven found out I've been sleeping in James' bed, and still am.

"Did you see that?"

"Dragonii and Potter were going at it."

"That was the best fight all year."

I stared blankly at Al and Scorp, listening to the voices around us.

"Maybe we should go see James." Al said, "He was limping so maybe he's in the hospital wing."

I didn't respond, I just grabbed my stuff. It took us twenty minutes-_TWENTY MINUTES_- to get to the hospital wing. It should have taken about five. That's how many students were lingering because of the fight.

There was a large crowd of students in front of the hospital wing doors, all of them trying to get in. Rose and Lily were desperately trying to prevent them.

"Oi this is a school not a fight fest. Move along."

"Move along yourself." The kid next to me sneered. I cuffed him on the back of the head so hard he went down on his knees.

"Next person who talks gets cursed short of oblivion."

The corridor went dead quiet.

"Now move it!"

The Slytherins were the first to go. They knew better.

"Oh thank you so much Bellina." Rose gushed giving me a hug.

"Is no one allowed in?" Al asked.

"Family is." Lily said opening the door. Me and Scorpius automatically stepped back. Rose took each of our arms.

"Don't be silly. You guys are family. Besides Uncle Harry might want to talk to you."

"Dad's here?" Al asked incredulously.

"Yeah and so is mom. She is pissed." Lily said in an undertone.

"How come they're here?" Scorp asked quietly as Rose opened the hospital wing door. Lilly just shrugged.

I followed the other four into the hospital wing making sure no one was following us in. On the farthest bed from the door sat an extremely pissed off looking James. His mother, Ginny, stood next to him looking just as pissed. Mr. Potter was sitting in a chair absently mindedly staring at the wall. No one else was around.

"Mum?" Lilly said hesitantly going to over to Mrs. Potter. Ginny Potter is the only one that can actually scare Lilly. Which makes sense in a way.

"Hello dear. How are classes going?" Ginny Weasley immediately put on a smile for her youngest children and their friends. Then she glanced at James and scowled.

"Um why are you here?" Albus asked ignoring his mother's question.

"Just in the neighborhood. Then Professor McGonagall told us what happened out by the lake." Mrs. Potter's scowl deepened. Ok, why in the world were they in the neighborhood?

"Oh. Bellina. Perfect timing." Harry Potter suddenly came out of his thoughts to find the five of us standing in front of him. I raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything. I kind of knew what this was going to be about.

"Come over here. I need to talk to you." I followed Mr. Potter to the other side of the room, where we wouldn't be overheard.

"I checked out the Malfoy vault at Gringotts after you gave me permission last week." He paused to take something out of his pocket, "Nothing out of the ordinary except this. It's addressed to you."

Mr. Potter handed me a folded piece of parchment and then stared at me expectantly. I opened it to discover a small pendant and Draco Malfoy's handwriting.

"Just a letter." I said looking at it, "And a gift."

Mr. Potter nodded.

"Well if you find anything important in there let me know."

I watched as Mr. Potter walked back to the others where Mrs. Potter's voice was slowly increasing as she scolded her oldest son. Albus and Scorpius were watching in amusement and Rose was shaking her head. Lilly caught my eye and walked over.

"What's that?"

"A letter. From Dad." I responded quietly, "Let everyone know that I need some alone time."

Lilly nodded as she watched me leave the hospital wing.

The corridors were empty now, as the students had all returned outside to study and enjoy the weather. I walked to my favorite place, the astronomy tower, with the letter and pendant clutched to my chest. I find it strange that Draco left something to me personally and not to Scorpius. After all I'm only an adopted child and even then both me and Scorp were always treated equally and given the same amount of love. Once at the top of the tower I made myself comfortable and read my short little letter. It went as follows:

_Bellina,_

_If you are reading this then that means I'm either in hiding or not around anymore. I will keep this short and to the point since I don't have much time to write. You might not know this but for the past several years I have been doing some side work for Harry Potter and the Auror department. I won't go into details about what I've been doing here but it is top secret and not even Potter knew exactly what I was doing, only the Minister who assigned this to me. And this leads me to my request. With this letter is a pendant I know you recognized. I need you to go to the Italian mansion and get something from the vault. It will explain everything. Tell Scorpius that I love him, and know that I love you and always will._

_ Draco_

_P.S. Please be careful from here on_

"Hmm." I said aloud. Well isn't this interesting.

"Bellina?" I jumped up at the sound of my name, my heart beating in my chest. James was standing at the door looking curiously at me.

"Jeez James. Did you really need to scare me like that?"

James smiled and walked over to me.

"Sorry. And here I thought it was impossible to sneak up on Bellina Black."

"Don't be a smartass. Albus and Scorpius is enough for me to handle." I growled. I stuffed both pendant and letter into the pocket of my robes and then crossed my arms over my chest.

"What do you want? I told Lilly I wanted to be alone. And how did you find me?"

"Lilly did mention something like that. And it was just a lucky guess that I found you here." James opened his arms out to me. I hesitated for a second before stepping into his embrace.

"What were you and Steven fighting about?" I asked burying my face in the crook of his neck.

"You." I looked up at him in surprise.

"He still wants you back and he's pissed at me for taking you."

"We're not even dating." I said slowly. To be honest I don't know what me and James are. On one hand we barely speak during the day and never hang out during free time. On the other hand I wake up in his bed every morning and I haven't gone a day where I didn't wear the gifts he had given me. James stared at me, face blank, eyes filled with… pain? What the hell?

"James?"

"I know we're not going out and I know we probably never will. But –" I placed my hand over James' mouth stopping the rest of his sentence.

"Never will." I echoed. James cocked his head at me.

"After the last six years I'm still surprised you even talk to me, let alone anything else that's been going on."

Why must guys be dense? Did he not understand the last few months?

I sighed and pulled away from him.

"I have to go talk to McGonagall." I said. I left him standing at the top of the tower with a confused look on his face. What an idiot. But I'll deal with him later. Right now I had a request to fulfill.

"Bellina we really shouldn't have came." Rose whispered.

"You didn't have to come, Rose." Lilly whispered back.

"Would you two be quiet." I snarled. Both girls pouted and looked away.

"Should have done this myself." I grumbled.

The Italian Mansion was quiet but it was still giving me goose-bumps. Definitely an eerie quiet.

"Why are we here again?" Lilly whispered.

"I told you. Your dad found a letter for me from my dad. He left something here for me."

"So why are we sneaking around? Isn't this your mansion?" Rose asked.

I didn't answer. How could I explain that my summer home felt like enemy territory?

"We're here." I said suddenly, stopping in front of a door that looked like all the others. Lilly gave me a skeptical look before opening the door to reveal a study. I pushed the girls inside, closed and locked the door behind us.

"How are we supposed to find anything in here?" Rose asked looking around. The study was furnished with a desk, multiple bookshelves and filing cabinets, a couch, some chairs, a fireplace and a few small tables.

"Don't worry. That's the easy part." I said stepping over to the only picture hanging in the room. It was a muggle painting of Hogwarts castle and grounds. I pulled the Hogwarts crest pendant from my pocket and stared at it for a moment.

"What are you going to do with that?"

Again I didn't answer. Instead I took the pendant and placed it into the niche in the painting where the castle doors should have been. The pendant clicked into place and gave off a sudden flicker of light. When the light faded the painting shimmered then disappeared, leaving a muggle wall safe behind.

"Wow." Lilly breathed. Her eyes were lit with excitement.

"It's a 3 number combination lock; do you know the combo Bellina?" Rose asked while inspecting the wall safe.

I simply stared. Did I know the combination? Draco seemed to think I would.

"Hey look at this." Lilly was now standing next to the desk, a picture frame in her hand, "Aww! It's a little Bellina."

"That's from eleven years ago. My first day in the Malfoy household." I said softly. In the picture I stood next to a pouting 4yr old Scorpius with Draco and Astoria standing behind us. Draco's hand rested on my shoulder.

"Rose."

"Yes?"

"Try 7-11-9."

"Huh?"

"The combo, try 7-11-9."

Rose walked over to the wall safe. After a few seconds I heard a click.

"Rose?"

"It worked." She whispered. She opened the safe door and pulled a single item out: a file.

"This is it." She said handing it to me. I plopped down on the couch, the file on my lap and still closed.

"Hey how did you know the combo?" Lilly asked sitting down next to me. Rose sat across from us.

"July 11, 2009. The day I was adopted by Draco and Astoria."

"Well what's in the file?"

I opened it to discover handwritten papers, newspaper clippings and photos.

"What is all this?" Rose asked in wonder.

"Death Eater activity and names." I responded after a moment. My voice was emotionless.

"All within the last 5 years. Looks like Mr. Malfoy was keeping an eye on them." Lilly said looking over a list of suspected death eaters.

"But why?" I muttered. Draco's short letter and this file was giving me more questions then answers.

"You don't think these people were the ones that…?" Rose's voice trailed off and she shifted uncomfortably.

"Could be." I responded my voice still emotionless. I knew what she was about to say. These suspected death eaters could very well be the reason I didn't have parents anymore.

"James." Lilly said suddenly.

"Huh?"

"James' owl." Lilly walked to the window, opened and let in a snowy owl. The owl soared in and landed on my shoulder. I note was attached to it's leg.

"What does it say?" Rose asked as I read it.

"Wants to know where we are. Really worried. With the headmistress." Panic now laced my voice as I continued to read, "Scorpius and Albus are missing."

**I really don't like cliff hangers…..and yet here is a cliff hanger…..sorry (drops head in shame)**

**Please Read and Review**


	9. Chapter 8: Missing Brothers

**I want to apologize for not updating sooner but writer's block struck me. However the plot bunny is back and here is the next chapter and continuation of chapter 7's cliff hanger. Enjoy!**

Last time

"James wants to know where we are." I said reading the letter, "He's really worried."

Sudden panic laced my voice.

"Scorpius and Albus are missing."

"What!"

"How? Why?"

"Don't know." I responded shortly. Of all the things to go wrong now. I walked over to the fireplace, grabbed some floo powder and tossed it in.

"Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Headmistress' office."

Green flames erupted from the fireplace and then I was looking into the face of Minerva McGonagall.

"Professor?"

"Where are you three?" she asked sternly.

"Fulfilling a request. Don't worry. We're not doing anything I didn't say we were going to do."

Professor McGonagall was silent for a minute.

"You girls need to come back now. Then I will explain."

"Yes." I said. I gestured to Rose and Lilly to go ahead as I picked up the Death Eater file and followed.

I stepped out of the fireplace and into Professor McGonagall's brightly lit office. Rose was dusting soot off her shoulder and Lilly was watching her oldest brother pace across the room.

"Sit, all of you."

McGonagall waited until we were all sitting before continuing.

"As you know Draco and Astoria Malfoy were recently killed in their home. Harry Potter and his team are in charge of finding the killers. With that in mind I allowed Bellina, Rose and Lilly to fulfill a request given to Bellina hoping that it might help with the investigation. About an hour after you girls left Scorpius and Albus snuck off to Hagrid's." McGonagall paused for a minute. None of this was new to me. Those two were forever sneaking off somewhere.

"They only stayed for about twenty minutes before taking their leave. However they never made it back to the castle. Harry has been alerted but he just hasn't gotten here yet." McGonagall paused again, a frown on her face, as if she was wondering what in the world could keep a man away when his son was missing.

"I wanted all of you to know seeing how these are your brothers. But I also want you all to sit put."

I saw James' fists clench out of the corner of my eye. Like his father he didn't do well sitting around when a loved one was in danger. I didn't blame him. It was all I could do not to jump up and run out of the castle. The boys I considered my little brothers were missing. And now that I know how my parents probably died I was extremely worried. Scorpius could easily be targeted by the same people.

"So now I will ask you to return to your common rooms and I will alert you when something new has been found. Bellina stay here for a minute."

My hand tightened around the shrunken file I had stuffed into my pocket. I had a choice to make. McGonagall waited until the door closed before addressing me.

"Did you find what you were looking for?"

"No professor. It wasn't where I thought it would be." I said without hesitation. Sometimes I wonder where I get my genes from. No Malfoy or Black I've ever heard of would willingly put their necks on the line for others. But it is my brothers that are in trouble and I now realize I've been hanging out with Potters and Weasleys for too long now.

"Very well. Just know that your search can't continue until they are found."

I nodded.

"You may go."

It strikes me as odd that after dealing with the last generation of Potters and Weasleys that she would allow us on our own. Doesn't she realize that we're not going to do as she says?

James, Rose, and Lilly were waiting for me outside the gargoyle guarding the office.

"Well?" Lilly demanded.

"Wanted to know if we found anything."

"Did you?"

I glanced at James but didn't answer.

"Where can we go to talk?"

"Room of Requirement." The three chorused.

"Lead the way." I've heard a lot about the famed Room of Requirement. Never actually been inside but Draco had always said Slytherins had no business being in so sacred a place, not with our history. I followed the three Gryffindors through empty corridors to the seventh floor. It was late at night and most students were already in their common rooms for the night; Curfew would be enabled within the hour. The Room of Requirement turned out to be an exact replica of Gryffindor common room, minus the annoying students. Once we were all settled I pulled the file from my pocket, returned it to full size and handed it to James who was sitting next to me.

"This is what was left for me." I said crossing my arms across my chest. I watched his face grow stormy as he flipped through it.

"Why didn't you tell McGonagall?" he finally asked looking up at me.

"Until I know if it's relevant, I'm not saying anything."

James scowled at me.

"Relevant or not this still needs to be shown to somebody. Preferably the Auror department."

"Hey hey hey. Not the issue right now." Lilly said.

"That's right. We need to find Scorpius and Albus right now." Rose said quietly.

"How?" James snapped. I smacked his arm causing him to turn his glare my way.

"Don't be so insensitive." I murmured to him. Rose looked like she wanted to cry and Lilly wasn't much better off. James sighed.

"I'm sorry Rose. I'm sure those two will show up eventually. Probably just pulling a prank as usual."

I almost believed him. I would have, if it weren't for the Death Eater file sitting on his lap. Rose however was nodding, not wanting to believe her boyfriend and best friend might be in trouble. I took the file and tucked it under my arm and then stood up.

"Where are you going?" Lilly asked.

"My common room."

"You're not really gonna listen to McGonagall are you?" she asked incredulously.

I smirked at her but didn't say anything.

"I'll walk you back." James said standing up. I shrugged. Didn't matter to me either way but I will admit I was glad for his company. We walked in silence for the majority of the way. There was a lot I wanted to say but now probably wasn't the best of times.

Suddenly I stopped walking realizing that James was about 2ft behind me, blankly staring at the floor.

"James?" He looked up at me for a full minute before answering.

"I'm an idiot." I raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything. I was too busy trying not to laugh out loud. If James Potter was just realizing that he was an idiot at the age of 17, he clearly has some issues. I could have told him he was an idiot back in our first year.

He walked up to me his face still having a slight dazed look to it.

"I really am an idiot." He finally said, looking very embarrassed.

"And if you don't explain yourself I'm walking the rest of the way by myself."

Again there are a lot of things I want to say to him and again now is not the time. It also was a bad time for his personal epiphanies. Instead of answering he grabbed my arm and pulled me into a hug, burying his face into my neck. I simply blinked. While I have absolutely no problem being in James' arms I was now completely confused. He pulled away from me but didn't release me from his embrace.

With a smile that was bright enough to rival the sun he pecked me on the lips. Again I just blinked. At this point I'm pretty sure he's lost it.

"James what the hell are you doing?"

"I'm an idiot Bellina." I sighed.

"If you say that again I'm going to hex you into next week. Can you please tell me why you're such an idiot."

James sighed, his smile fading from his face.

"Would you be surprised if I said I just figured out the last couple of months?"

I snorted.

"Not in the least sweetie. Not in the least."

James frowned. I shook my head before planting a kiss on his jaw.

"But I forgive you for it. And everything else too in case you're wondering."

He stood there grinning like an idiot, his arms around my waist.

"Bellina would you go out with me?"

This boy's sense of timing is really off. But that didn't stop the smile that blossomed on my face. Blossomed? Who in the world uses that word to describe a smile? Me apparently. Now you know I've been spending too much time with Lilly and Rose. They are they only people I can think of that are romantically inclined enough to use a word like 'blossomed'. But I'm also sure you don't want to listen about my concerns for the use of the English language so I digress.

"James do you really need to ask at this point?"

"No probably not." He said and then he kissed me. And like all the other times he's kissed me I melted. He pulled me closer to deepen the kiss and cupped me cheek with a hand. It was like no other kiss I've ever experienced. It was sweet and gentle yet at the same time I could tell how much he was holding back. Now you may say 'Holding back? But you two were meant to be!' Need I remind everyone that we were standing in a corridor after hours?

I finally pulled away to catch my breath. After a second I took a few steps back and pulled out of his arms completely. He looked disappointed.

"James now is really not the time for this." I said softly, "I'll come up to your dorm in a little bit, I just need to think right now."

He seemed to struggle with himself for a minute before nodding, giving me a final peck and disappearing back the way we had come. I on the other hand collapsed where I stood. The last thing I wanted to do was send him away but it's hard to snog your boyfriend when you keep thinking about how your brothers are missing. Boyfriend. I bit the inside of my cheek to stop myself from squealing. Bellina Marie Black does not squeal. But I will admit that I was happier then I have been in months.

The corridors were empty of everyone, even Peeves, so I had plenty of time to think. So let me give you a breakdown. My adopted father Draco Malfoy left me the findings of a secret research project he was working on while he was alive. It consists of death eater activity of the last five years. More then likely my adopted parents were killed back in February because of this research. The Auror department has found no leads on the murders of my parents so it's safe to assume that death eaters were the cause. Now three months later my adopted brother and his best friend suddenly disappear. The likelihood of these two cases being related is rather high, which worries me greatly. Oh yeah, and of course the last thing I think of is that I'm now going out with James Sirius Potter. How is that even related? And can you believe I hated his guts half a year ago? And again how is this relevant?

I walked into an nearly empty common room and straight through to my dorm. The dorm was empty but that was to be expected. But I wasn't interested in that. I was more interested in the piece of parchment on my bed. I picked up the written note and quickly read through it. And then read through it again. And then proceeded to curse my brothers for their lack of intelligence. I bolted from the room and made my way back to the seventh floor. Because things weren't complicated enough.

I stared at the hastily written note in my hand for the umpteenth time. I was standing outside the Gryffindor common room and had been for at least ten minutes.

"You know I can't let you in by yourself."

I glanced up at the Fat Lady.

"Yeah I know. Can you get James Potter for me?"

The Fat Lady sighed but walked out of her portrait none-the-less.

"He's coming." She said coming back a few seconds later.

"Bellina?"

The portrait swung open to reveal James wearing only pajama bottoms. If this was a normal night I could be curled up next to this hottie, who is my boyfriend, in his bed. But no. Instead everything has to go wrong. Why is my life so unfair?

"I need to show you something." I said concentrating on his face. Need I tell you why I was doing that?

James nodded and gestured that I follow him. He led me into a nearly empty common room. Lilly and Rose sat on the couch in front of the fire. Figures they would still all be up.

"Hey Bells, what's up?" Lilly looked wide awake for the middle of the night, especially seeing as she found out her brother was missing, what an hour ago?

"I found this on my bed." I handed Rose the note and then went to stand next to the chair James was sitting in.

"Malfoy Manor?" Rose looked at me uncertainly.

"That's what it says. Apparently my dad left Scorp a letter in the bottom of his trunk that he just found and it said that there was something for him at the house."

James and Lilly had identical frowns on their faces.

"Is it true?"

"Unlikely. Malfoy Manor used to house Voldermort and his death eaters. They would have known that place upside down and backwards. More then likely the letter Scorp found was a fake to lure them there.

"And the idiots fell for it." Lilly looked pissed. Rose shrugged.

"You know them. It could have been a last minute impulsive decision on their part. They've been really restless lately."

We all fell silent, lost in our own thoughts.

"Well what do we do now?"

Rose's question broke me out of my mental update. I glanced at James to see him watching me. I had a feeling I knew what was on his mind.

"The Auror department and the headmistress need to be notified." I said slowly, "It's more then likely that those two are in trouble."

Rose dropped her face in her hands.

"They're gonna need help." James said standing up. I hate it when I'm right sometimes. I bit the inside of my cheek uneasily. The Slytherin in me was starting to rear its head. I was more than willing to go rescue the boys but waltzing in on a manor full of potential death eaters is not my cup of tea.

"Oh no. Not happening mr. hero complex." Lilly said standing up and facing her brother.

James glared at her.

"I don't have a hero complex!"

Rose giggled and I rolled my eyes. James is a lot like his dad, no offense to Mr. Potter intended.

Lilly was glaring back.

"If you go , we all go."

James opened his mouth to respond but I cut him off in order to head off the coming argument.

"Great but McGonagall still needs to know."

"I can take care of that." We all turned to Rose. She was now standing with her wand out, a look of fierce determination in her eyes.

"Mom showed me how to send messages through patronus last summer. I've been practicing."

Is anyone really surprised? I wasn't in the least.

"Great. That should give us enough time to floo out of here before McGonagall tries to stop us. James go get dressed please so we can leave." James left the common room grumbling at his sister's orders. Lilly was not one to sit back and let others be in charge.

"Bellina can we even floo into the Manor?"

"Yeah." I responded, "But that's probably a bad idea. Assuming that the Manor is filled with death eaters we're not going to want to just floo in there. The groundskeeper has his own little house on the grounds and shouldn't be home right now. We can floo there."

Lilly nodded and ran up to her room. James was back fully dressed before she came back down with a small plastic bag.

"Floo powder." She explained, "Mom gave it to me just in case."

I grabbed the first handful and then looked at Rose.

"Rosie follow us right after you send the message to McGonagall." After she nodded I stepped into the Gryffindor fireplace.

"Malfoy Manor grounds."

In a swirl of green flames the common room disappeared from my sight.

**Yay end of the chapter that gave me so much trouble. I think the hardest part was incorporating some Bellina and James alone time. They don't get much unfortunately and won't in this story. But I have decided to make a sequel and they will have more times together there. This is like a prequel to their relationship. But on the bright side they're dating now!**

**Hopefully the next chapter will be up sooner then later so stay tuned!**

**And as always Harry Potter belongs to JK Rowling**


	10. Chapter 9: Strength Part I

**Hello all, this is part 1 to chapter nine as you can see from the title. It was simply too long so it will come in two parts. **

**Enjoy!**

*BTW any underline spells are non-spoken ones*

I stumbled out of the stone fireplace into the small living room belonging to the Malfoy's groundkeeper. It took me half a second to realize that there was someone else in the room. I whipped out my wand and turned it towards them but I needn't have worried, I stood face to face with my brother. Scorpius stared at me with momentary shock before giving me a weak smile. Well at least he knew he was in trouble.

"Where's Albus?" I asked as the fireplace behind me turned green and Lilly stepped out.

"Outside looking around. He should be back any second."

James came next and upon seeing Scorpius a scowl settled on his face but he said nothing. Rose was the last to come through and she looked relieved to see Scorp. But before she could go to him she seemed to remember why we were here and she glared at him instead, crossing her arms.

"What the hell is going on? And where is my idiot brother?" Lilly had her arms crossed as well and actually looked somewhat amused.

As if in answer to her question Albus bounded into the room at that moment looking excited. At least he did until he saw who was in the room. He skidded to a halt and actually tried to make a run for it. I felt sorry for him as James' leg-locker curse hit him from behind then I remembered all the worry he caused me. The little bugger deserved to have his head bounce off the doorframe.

"You've got some explaining to do." James growled.

"I think there are death eaters inside Malfoy Manor."

Whatever we were expecting it wasn't what had come out of Al's mouth. Even Scorpius looked shocked.

"I'm sorry I think I'm going deaf but I thought you said that there are death eaters in my house." I said.

If it weren't for the fact Al was on the floor with his head faced away from us, he'd probably be glaring at me.

"That's exactly what I said." He replied rather grumpily too I might add.

"Well then we should probably leave." Rose said suddenly very nervous.

"We can't." Scorpius and I said. We glanced at each other before I continued.

"The grounds have probably been locked down by now. Which means no apparating and no access to the floo network from anywhere on the grounds."

"I don't understand." Lilly said.

I sighed before sitting down on an empty chair.

"Back when Voldermort was still using this place as a base he had special security measures placed in and around the Malfoy grounds. If anyone without a dark mark passed through the barriers an alarm would sound inside the house and alert the occupants that there was an intruder. After the war dad couldn't get rid of the spells completely. He was able to put them to sleep if you will so that it wouldn't go off every time we had a visitor. They can however be easily reenacted."

"If there are death eaters inside the house," Scorpius continued, "you can guarantee that they know about the security system. That's why I was so surprised when you came through the floo. I had figured they closed up the network right after we got here."

I jumped up as Scorpius finished talking and smacked him upside the head.

"You remembered about the security system and you still came here. You knew that there was a chance of not being able to get back to school."

Scorpius shrugged.

"I honestly didn't think that there would be death eaters here. Otherwise we wouldn't have come."

I opened my mouth to remind him about the file I had found earlier that evening then remembered that Albus and Scorpius knew nothing about it. They hadn't known that Draco had been monitoring death eater activity. I sighed again. Things just keep getting worse.

"Well that doesn't matter at the moment. Rose try to see if the floo network closed up. If it did we need to move and move soon."

"Why?" James asked. I blinked at him in surprise. I had nearly forgotten he was there, being so quiet. Some girlfriend I make huh?

"They'll know where we flooed in from. They'll be surrounding this place shortly."

Rose came back from the fireplace shaking her head. The network had already been blocked off. I paused suddenly thinking it odd that the network hadn't been closed off after Al and Scorp arrived which was hours ago. But I didn't have time to think of that right now.

"Let's go. There are plenty of places to hide on the grounds."

I pulled my wand out again and led them from the house. Malfoy manor lay in the distance but I turned away from it. That was the last place any of us wanted to be right now. Instead I led my friends closer to the forest that took up about a quarter of the grounds. We walked about a quarter mile into the forest until I stopped at the edge of a clearing. The clearing was rather large and if you looked real close you could see that it seemed somewhat strange in the moonlight.

"What's wrong with that clearing?" Rose whispered from some where behind me. I smirked. Of course the genius would notice it right away.

"Egressus." I said pointing my wand at the clearing.

(Egressus is Latin for come forth)

The clearing shimmered for a second and then a small cottage appeared in the center. Lilly squealed in excitement. I glanced back at Scorpius and saw him nod. He would put the protection spell back up.

I led the Gryffindors and Albus into the cottage. No one was there but I would have been very surprised if someone had been there.

"What is this place?"

"Our secret hideout."

Albus snorted. James had scrunched up his face clearly trying not to laugh. I didn't even bother rolling my eyes at them.

"I'm serious. Me and Scorp had played here as children. After I started going to Hogwarts I began strengthening and personalizing the protection spells our dad put around the place. Scorpius and I are the only ones who can access this place."

My friends looked impressed. I smirked, unable to keep my pride from showing on my face. Lilly rolled her eyes.

"Well now what?"

I frowned. As safe as this place was it probably wouldn't be safe for long especially if we were being looked for. James seemed to think along these same lines because he looked at me saying,

"We need to get off these grounds as soon as possible."

"Unfortunately the only way out is through the main gates." I said in response to his silent question.

"And that means we need to go past the Manor." Scorpius had finally come back inside. What the hell had taken him so long?

"Bellina someone has been here." There was a slight note of panic in his voice even though he looked calm. No one knew about this place, no one other than Draco and after all the changes I made even Draco wouldn't have been able to get in.

"That's impossible." I snapped. There was nothing wrong with my spells. Scorp shook his head.

"They tried to break the barrier from the inside." I blinked at him. What the hell? How could they be on the inside without breaking the barrier in the first place? Unless…..

I turned away from everyone and left the room for a smaller storage room at the back of the cottage. In the back corner on the floor was a trap door. Cliché isn't it? Beneath the door is a tunnel that led all the way to the gardens behind the Manor. This was usually how me and Scorpius snuck off to our hideaway without getting caught. I gave the door a once over and noted in dismay that there wasn't much of a door left to go over. Like the clearing the trap door had been spelled although not as strongly. Someone had blasted through the trap door from inside the tunnel. That means they had found the entranceway in the gardens which unfortunately hadn't been spelled.

"Damn." I said quietly.

"What is that?" I whipped around to see that James had followed me from the front room, his wand lit and a frown on his face.

"This is how the intruder got in." I said with a sigh, "And it's also our way out. Although I can't tell you how safe it is anymore."

James stared at the hole in the floor before reaching over and taking my hand in his.

"We'll have to risk it."

"Am I interrupting something?" Neither of us turned at Lilly's voice. I had forgotten that no one really knew about our new status. Lilly squealed.

"Are you two dating?"

I sighed and James glared at his little sister.

"We don't have time for this." Albus said from the doorway, "Although I must admit it's about time."

James growled and gripped his wand more tightly. If I didn't do something quick I was gonna have to drag an unconscious Albus through the tunnel….by his leg so that his head hit every bump in the floor. Damn little bugger.

"We need to move. Wands out." I said irritably. I let go of James' hand and began my way down the ladder, wand between my teeth.

"Lumos." I said at the bottom. My wand dimly lit the darkened tunnel which showed no signs of intrusion besides the wood splinters from the trap door.

"Does this go only one way?" James now stood next to me trying to peer into the darkness.

"For the most part. There is one other tunnel that branches off closer to where the Manor is but I've never explored it and it goes in the opposite direction of the gates. So I doubt it'll be useful."

James nodded then stepped in front of me quietly insisting on taking the lead. I let him. He was the brave Gryffindor not me. Yet I hovered by his shoulder tightly gripping my wand. I didn't want him getting hurt and if I could prevent it I would. We walked slowly listening for any strange sounds, James in front with me right behind him, then Lilly, Rose, Albus and lastly Scorpius.

"We should be there soon." I said after about ten minutes. James suddenly stopped cursing. I rubbed my nose where it had hit his shoulder deciding I had been a bit too close and then glanced up to see why he had stopped. The tunnel had collapsed and now we were stuck.

"What the bloody hell?" I whispered going closer. I noticed to my left was the unexplored tunnel I had mentioned earlier.

"Do you think they collapsed the tunnel after discovering where it led?" Lilly asked from behind me. Rose made her way around us and stopped in front of the pile of rocks. As she muttered some spells under her breath I looked at the entrance of the other tunnel. It was giving me an ominous feeling.

'We don't want to go that way if we don't have to." James murmured in my ear. I nodded before looking at Rose. She was frowning.

"Well I can tell you that this was done recently, real recent." She finally said, "And there is some kind of spell on it which I bet will prevent us from digging our way out with magic or by hand."

"So that means this was done after we tripped the alarm system." Albus said angrily.

'But why?' I wondered. I glanced again at the opening of the other tunnel.

"Well then let's go back." Lilly said. She was starting to get impatient and annoyed. Not a good combo for the youngest Potter. Rose shook her head.

"That way is probably blocked by now. They probably set up a trigger to collapse the tunnel after we went though."

"Wouldn't we have heard something?"

"Not necessarily." Scorpius said thoughtfully, "These grounds have belonged to the Malfoys for generations. Who knows what kinds of spells are still left over?"

"But why trap us down here?" Lilly asked in frustration. I shook my head. It was too obvious.

"Albus how sure were you that there are death eaters in the Manor."

Albus blinked at my question.

"I knew there were people in the house. Who they were I really can't say but I had an ominous feeling. The presences inside the house gave me the chills."

I snorted. Not at Albus' words but at the death eaters' very obvious attempt to get a hold of us.

"Bellina?"

James was frowning at me. He glanced at the tunnel opening then back at me. He knew what I was thinking.

"Well we can try to go back but I personally have no reason to doubt Rose's prediction. That means the only way for us to go is through here."

James sighed. Apparently that had been the last thing he wanted to do.

"We were set up." He said.

"But why?" Lilly asked glaring at the tunnel.

Scorpius sighed before gripping his wand and heading for the tunnel entrance.

"Where are you going?" Rose asked slightly panicky.

"I am not sitting here and waiting for them to come get us. This is the only way out so lets go."

I hate it when he's right. I hate it even more when he acts like a Gryffindor.

"What kind of Slytherin are you?" Albus grumbled as he followed clearing agreeing with me. James growled after them.

"Save it." I said pecking him on the cheek, "He's right after all."

I followed after the boys, Lilly and Rose right behind me, leaving James to bring up the rear. About 20ft down the tunnel it branched into 4 new tunnels and that was were Scorpius and Albus stood waiting.

"You think we should split up?" Al asked.

"No." James responded.

I held up my lit wand to stare at the floor. Not a single speck of dust in any tunnel. I couldn't tell if any were used recently.

James and Albus suddenly swore. My head shot up to see death eaters standing at the entrance of 2 tunnels and the way we had come. Well at least now we know Albus had been right. Three possible exits were also suddenly blocked off. None of the death eaters moved, but then again neither did we. You could have cut a slice out of the tension in the air. As I looked around I noticed Lilly mumbling under her breath, her wand concealed from view by her brother's back. I instantly knew what she was doing.

For those of you don't know the bat-bogey hex is a spell that was used quite often by Ginny Potter while she was still in school. She was near famous for it and it only made sense that she would teach it to her daughter. The tunnel erupted with 'bats' that began to fiercely attack the death eaters. I briefly wondered how the spell could have worked with their masks on their faces before grabbing Lilly and Rose and shoving them down the closest tunnel.

"Run." I snarled at them when they stared at me in confusion. We took off running down the tunnel which, thankfully, was lit by some unseen light source. A glance behind me told me that the boys hadn't followed us down this tunnel. So much for not splitting up. Though that may have been the reason for the sudden appearance of those death eaters anyway. That thought slowed me down until I stopped altogether, realizing that I was alone.

"What the hell?" I whirled around thinking maybe I had missed some turnoff that the girls had gone down but I didn't move. I had been running but I was nearly positive there had been no other tunnels and I wasn't about to go check. Not when death eaters were in that direction.

"Point me." I laid my wand flat on my palm allowing it to spin and point me north. North was where the manor was, which hopefully everybody knew but probably didn't. Damn. My wand spun and didn't stop. Something was messing with it. Double damn. I miss the month of January. Everything was going right in January. I continued down the tunnel hoping to bump into-well anyone really. Unless of course they were a death eater. And I prefer to bump into Rose and Lilly first. James might kill me for losing them, girlfriend or no girlfriend.

As I continued I noticed the tunnel walls change from packed dirt to some sort of dark stone. It seems something was built beneath the Malfoy grounds. I also noticed all of a sudden branch offs along either side of me. I was gonna get lost I knew it. I'm horrible with directions in case anyone wanted to know. I sighed. What the hell am I gonna do? Keep running obviously.

I slowed down as the tunnel no longer ran straight, peeking my head around corners and carefully listening for any sounds other then my own footsteps. And that is how I found Lilly. I stuck my head around another corner to spot a death eater struggling to carry a screaming Lilly down the tunnel. Or at least it looked like she was screaming, whatever spell was on her kept anyone from hearing her.

"Stupefy!" I shouted while flinging myself around the corner. The death eater's back was toward me and so he barely registered my yell before a shot of red hit him square in the back. He collapsed where he stood dragging Lilly down to the floor with him.

"Lilly are you ok?" she glared at me before saying something, something I couldn't hear. Oops, I forgot.

"Finite Incantatem." I pointed my wand at her throat.

"Thank Merlin." She gushed, "That was annoying."

I raised my eyebrow at her, but she didn't seem to notice. Since when are life or death situations annoying? Lilly had picked up both her and the death eater's wand and was now staring at the death eater. He was dressed all in black a silver mask adorning his face.

"What happened to you?" Lilly asked suddenly looking away from the death eater.

"Levicorpus." I hung the death eater up by his ankle before answering, "I'm not really sure. I glanced behind me at one point and when I looked back you were both gone."

Lilly nodded.

"We kept going until we bumped into death eaters. Then we split up. That idiot caught me by surprise."

I nodded then looked down the corridor where the death eater had been dragging Lilly.

"What should we do?"

I sighed. This whole thing was starting to seem surreal. It didn't even make sense anymore.

"I really don't know Lilly."

"Well then let's go this way. That guy was babbling about other prisoners. Somebody else must have gotten caught."

Great. So our evade and escape plan just turned into a search and rescue. What the hell is going on? And yet I nodded and followed Lilly down the corridor, noticing that this one was wider and sloping down somewhat. We weren't walking long before coming to a giant set of ornamental doors. When closed, as they were now, the dark mark glared menacingly at you. Lilly stepped back into me as she realized what exactly adorned the doors. I on the other hand was noticing something different about this dark mark. Where the right eye of the skull should have been there was a crest, but before I could get a good look at it the doors swung open on their own.

"I think were being invited in." Lilly mumbled.

"Really? What gave you that idea?" I clenched my wand in my hand and took a step forward only for Lilly to grab my arm. I shook my head, then shook her off. I was taking the invitation whether it be good or bad. This was the cliché moment were everything is revealed to the hero/heroine and all because they walked unknowingly into a trap. Fortunately I knew this was a trap so the chances of things not going badly were high. Yeah right. I must be dreaming.

Lilly and I stepped into a semi-dark room and the doors swung closed behind us. I felt Lilly clutch my arm before the room, a throne room, lit up in blazing light.

White marble columns, or what was left of some, stood at intervals all across the room. Giant fire lit chandeliers hung from a vaulted ceiling lighting up the tapestries and paintings adorning the walls. A deep red carpet led the way to a raised platform where an ancient gold throne stood. Death eaters lined the walls almost completely but my eyes were on the group by the platform. Three death eaters stood there each holding a wand to the neck of Rose, Albus or Scorpius.

"Welcome Ladies."

My eyes focused on the speaker. A death eater standing in front of the throne, the only one wearing expensive dress robes and no mask. I suddenly felt the need to bolt from the room. Rodolphus Lestrange, my grandmother's husband, stood looking down at us, grinning like a maniac.


	11. Chapter 9: Strength Part II

**So I know that I said last chapter that Chapter 9 would be a two part chapter. However because of the plot bunny took such a tight hold on me Chapter 9 is now three parts. The only real reason for three parts is that I didn't want to have to come up with a new chapter title. So basically I'm lazy. The good news is that chapter 9 is now done and there is only one more chapter left in this story. Enjoy**

I felt frozen. As you can imagine I don't exactly keep in touch with Great Uncle (?) Rodolphus. Hell I'm surprised he's still alive. He had somehow managed to escape Hogwarts all those years ago that much I knew. But since he wasn't really family he didn't bother us any and we completely forgot about his existence. Under the current circumstances probably not the best idea my family has ever had. Even Draco must have forgotten about him because I don't remember seeing his name in the file and he's at least as crazy as grandma Bellatrix was.

"Welcome my dears." He said again. Lilly shuddered beside me.

"Now that our last guests have arrived we can begin the festivities." He clapped his hands and two death eaters I hadn't seen a moment ago stepped into our line of sight dragging someone. James. My heart constricted as I took in his appearance. He was bleeding from several cuts, had a split lip, and a bruised eye. Considering the company we were in I'm surprised it wasn't worse. But even the few injuries didn't make any sense. There was no way they could have captured all of us and tortured James in such a short amount of time. We haven't been in these damn tunnels for that long. What is going on?

Rodolphus lazily pointed his wand at James.

"Crucio."

Lilly flinched beside me, her hands tightening around both wands she possessed. James was writhing in pain for the duration of the curse but not a sound passed his lips.

"So tough to break." Rodolphus mused. Then his eyes landed on Rose. Oh. Hell. No. If James were in any condition to he would kill me for allowing anything to happen to his family while I stood in the room perfectly capable of preventing it.

"How long have you been down here?" It was the first thing that came to mind.

"Hmm? Oh ever since Draco Malfoy conveniently died leaving this place empty."

My hand tightened over my wand and I believe I saw red for just a second.

"You killed him!" I hissed.

Rodolphus laughed.

"Oh how I wish my dear Bellina. How I wish I could have killed that little brat. Both of them."

Astoria? What the hell did she ever do to him? What did Draco ever do to him for that matter?

"I see you are slightly confused Bellina. I suppose I should explain since it does have to do with you."

Cliché, cliché, cliché. Why is my life full of clichés? The bad guy always tells the good guy everything in the end. I mean really. Is life just full of clichés?

"The pride and joy of the Malfoy family, little Draco. He had shown such promise when he was younger. Of course he turned out to be nearly useless once the Dark Lord began setting things in motion. But I don't really blame him, no that was more his useless father's fault."

How insulting! That's my family he's talking about!

Lilly placed a hand on my arm as if foreseeing my outburst. Rodolphus continued as if he saw nothing.

"Bellatrix had so much hope in that boy even though he wasn't hers. Of course she didn't tell him that. Bellatrix was more the type to show her love and affection through torture and cruelty. Though I suppose you've heard all of those stories." He stopped talking staring blankly into space.

"And Astoria?" I asked. Keep him talking, just until I figure out what to do.

"Ms. Greengrass? What about her?"

"You said both of them." I wasn't really paying attention at this point, merely trying to analyze our situation. There were too many death eaters for me and Lilly to handle alone. To be honest there were more death eaters then the 6 of us could have handled alone. Where the hell did they all come from? Draco's file had no where near this many mentioned.

"Yes both of them. But I didn't mean Ms. Greengrass. I was talking about Astrid."

Rose was trying to signal something to me without bringing attention to her but I couldn't quite figure out what it was. But it didn't matter because when Rodolphus said Astrid my head whipped toward him and all other thoughts were forgotten. Astrid. I only knew of one Astrid that he could mean and he shouldn't even know about her. Rodolphus smiled at me.

"Yes I can see you know exactly who I'm talking about. Your dear mother Astrid, bastard product of the useless Lucius Malfoy and that bitch I called a wife."

Both Lilly and Rose gasped. Albus looked dumbstruck. While they were practically family I never told them who my mother's parents were. I never even really told them who my mother was just that she was permanently in St. Mungo's.

"How did you know?" my voice was low. This was the last thing I wanted to be talking about.

"How did I know? How did I know? Bellatrix actually thought she could keep from me the fact that she was with child after telling me, her husband, that she couldn't have any children. Then of course a little digging, a little spying and I find out the child wasn't even mine!" Rodolphus' face was nearly purple with rage. His wand was giving off red sparks. With a flick of his wrist he sent a stunner at me, one that I blocked almost unconsciously. That only seemed to make him angrier.

"I decided that day I found out to take the ultimate revenge on dear Bella." His voice was dripping with sarcasm and he sent another stunner at me. I blocked easily and pulled Lilly behind me, slowly backing up towards the nearest column.

"But it didn't work out the way it was supposed to. Bellatrix _died_. The stupid whore died! But so consumed with rage that I decided to take my revenge anyway." His smile was scary, no other word for it, "And you my dear Bellina were the product of that."

My feet froze and my eyes widened.

"Bellina?" I heard Lilly whisper my name but it didn't register. I only heard his last sentence echoing around in my head. It couldn't be. How fucked up is my ancestry?

"Yes dear Bellina. I took my revenge my impregnating Bellatrix's dear child and the result after nine months was you. A child that showed much more promise then your mother. I planned on taking you and raising you myself but your useless mother tried to stop me. So she suffered the same damage done to the Longbottom's by Bellatrix."

Insanity by the Cruciatus curse. The same one that was being used on James just a short while ago.

"But even then she continued to oppose me. She had immediately flooed to Lucius Malfoy and after that I couldn't lay my hands on you. But it doesn't really matter. Draco Malfoy, your guardian, is dead. You and your cousin soon will be and I'll make a note of sending Lucius and Narcissa right after you." Rodolphus ducked as he finished his sentence, my spell shattering the top of the throne he stood in front of. I was tired of his talking. I didn't care who he was, he hurt my family, and he promised to hurt them even more, he will pay.

"That could have been painful." He said lightly, observing the throne.

"Stupefy! Expulso! Reducto!"

Do you know how difficult it is to perform spells in a rage while your friend is dragging you backwards? Very hard indeed. Lilly somehow managed to pull me behind a column blocking us from the death eaters' view. Rodolphus managed to avoid every spell and was currently laughing his head off. Not in the evil bad guy maniacal way, he was just laughing hysterically. What kind of bad guy is this dude? If this whole scenario is gonna be a cliché at least do it right.

"Are you crazy?" Lilly hissed at me.

"Evidently it runs in the family." I snapped back.

"There is no way we can handle this many death eaters on our own and you just start cursing their leader? What happened to sensible Bellina?"

"She's on vacation." Ok really? That was the best I could come up with? Enough with the jokes; Lilly is right, glaring at me and my jokes are bad anyway.

"Ok ok." Time for a situation analysis.

It was me and Lilly, armed with three wands, against an unknown number of death eaters who had four hostages. Yep we're pretty much fucked.

"James is armed."

Oh and one hostage is armed. Wait, what?

"Wait, what?"

"I said James is armed or at least I saw his wand in his back pocket."

A joke about blowing off buttocks made by George Weasley bounced through my mind. What the bloody hell is with these jokes!

"What about the others?" I asked slowly. If we were all armed we had a slightly bigger chance of at least getting out of this room alive.

"I don't know. I couldn't tell. Why wouldn't they disarm hostages?"

I don't need a Ravenclaw to answer that question.

"The same reason they haven't attacked us yet. They want us to fight back."

Lilly stared at me blankly.

"That doesn't make any sense."

"Sure it does. Duel us, beat us, break us then kill us as we beg for mercy. Very appealing to a death eater."

"You people are sick." She replied bluntly.

"Hey now don't lump me together with them. I have nothing to do with it."

"So does that mean we're fighting back."

"Unless you'd rather hand your wand over to one of those death eaters."

Lilly grinned at me. She scares me sometimes. The teenage girl I basically watched grow up scares the living shit out of me.

"So how are we gonna do this?"

"We need to concentrate on getting our friends to safety. And we need to assume that James can't fight back and that the other three are disarmed. Then we need to get the hell out of this room."

Lilly nodded her head once then peaked around our column, lips moving and wand waving. Bat bogey. As she released her spell on the three death eaters holding Scorp, Rose and Al, I stepped out from behind the column and pointed my wand at the giant chandelier hanging above the center of the room.

"Confringo!" The chain blasted apart causing the chandelier to fall and several death eaters to jump out of the way. Rose, Scorpius and Albus were fighting for their freedom at this point clearly armed and winning.

"Incendio!" Rose's spell erupted in the center of a group of death eaters causing several to catch flame, and then the death eaters began fighting back. Not all at once mind you, but just enough to keep us on our toes.

"Protego!" I shouted blocking a stunner.

"Stupefy!" Stunned death eater.

"Incarcerous!" Death eater tied up.

"Protego!" Another stunner blocked.

"Reducto!" There goes a wand. Suddenly I found myself back to back with my cousin.

"I'm suddenly very glad that Mr. Potter forced us through those long summer weeks of dueling practice."

I laughed though it was a bit forced.

"I was just thinking the same thing."

We were standing near the center of the room near the fallen chandelier. The right side of the room had caught flame and we really needed to get out of there.

"Scorpius, see if you can find the others and make your way to the door before this place goes completely up in flames."

Without waiting for an answer I ran in the direction of the throne, where James and my 'father' were last seen. By now the air was thick with smoke and I believe someone somewhere was fuelling the flames because no way in hell should a stone room be able to burn. I stumbled through the smoke directly into James whom I nearly cursed before realizing who it was.

"James." I said relieved. He looked ok. At least he was able to stand and grip his wand. He wrapped his arms around me, crushing me to his chest.

"How sweet." I whipped my head around to see Rodolphus standing at the edge of our visibility, a sneer on his face, "Your grandmother would be so disappointed in you Bellina."

"I don't really give a damn." I snarled stepping in between James and the death eater. I refuse to acknowledge him as my father.

"Bellina." James murmured in my hair.

"Don't bother James. Nothing you say will change my mind." I tightened my grip on my wand and pointed it at Rodolphus. He merely stood there staring back at me. I felt James back away but where he went when he left my side I don't know.

"You know Bellina, you don't need to do this. We can still change things. Harry Potter's death is the real goal behind all this. Kidnapping his children was the fastest way to get to him. Kill Harry Potter and you could be the Dark Queen to rule over all of England, the world if you wanted."

"You can go take your plans of a Dark Queen and shove it up your arse." I snarled, "Stupefy!"

Rodolphus managed to block it but he wasn't expecting any non-spoken spells.

"Langlock." I knew the spell had worked because he glared at me. Unfortunately when dealing with a wizard who has finished schooling and has had so much more life experience gluing their tongue to the roof of their mouth doesn't really help. Rodolphus shot off a number of brightly colored spells that I managed to just dodge but in doing so I lost him in the smoke. Without being able to see I was fully unprepared for when his cruciatus curse hit me. The pain was excruciating, so bad that the floor seemed to spin beneath my feet. I collapsed to the ground gasping for breath.

"Useless, useless, useless. Your entire family is made up of useless beings my dear." Rodolphus stared down at me sneering, "I suppose you're better off dead after all."

"You're gonna kill your own daughter." I wheezed. Rodolphus smiled before stepping aside to reveal James standing behind him.

"No I won't, but he will."

Imperio. Probably the worst spell in existence at the moment. I stared into James' face hoping that he was just playing along waiting for the perfect moment to strike, but his eyes were blank and his wand was pointed at me.

"Crucio." James' voice was a dull and echoed version of what it was normally and I think that pained me more then the curse did.

"Sectumsempra." I hissed in pain but I couldn't defend myself. I couldn't hurt James.

"Crucio. Sectumsempra. Crucio. Relashio."

The pain was unbearable, my life's blood was freely flowing out of my body but I didn't let a single sound escape my lips. Out of the corner of my eye I saw flickers of orange and red so at least I knew relief would come soon. Burning to death wasn't really the way I wanted to go but dieing at the hands of the man I loved was much worse.

"James." I murmured. Rodolphus laughed.

"Yes. Call out to him. It won't matter but I'll make sure he knows you did before he killed you. Now finish her."

James raised his wand so it was pointed at my face but that was it. He made no another move to attack me and I felt a sliver of hope that maybe, just maybe, I would finally get lucky in life and James would break out of the hold on him. James blinked twice and suddenly his hazel eyes were clear and focused. Hell yea! Someone somewhere must finally be taking pity on me cause this is the first thing all year that has gone right for me. Well maybe not the only thing but it's the only thinking I can think of as I lay bleeding all over the floor.

What happened next seemed to take place all in slow motion. Rodolphus had immediately noticed James breaking the imperio curse and raised his wand at him. At the same time James swung his wand at Rodolphus and simultaneously ducked. I, with the strength for one last spell pointed my wand at Rodolphus' feet.

"Avada Kedavra!"

"Expelliarmus!"

"Incarcerous!"

The killing curse missed James barely, and if he hadn't ducked it would have killed him. James' disarming spell hit Rodolphus an instant before my spell, meaning the death eater was unarmed as thick ropes wrapped around his entire body.

James immediately came to my side cussing and coughing as the small clearing we had been in the entire time suddenly clouded with smoke.

"Bellina!" He cradled me in his arms, tears pouring down his face. I smiled weakly at him and clenched his shirt in my fist.

"Don't act like I'm about to drop dead." I whispered. The last thing I saw was a smile on his face before I fell into unconsciousness.

**O.O Such a surprising turn of events for Bellina, it even took me by surprise as I wrote it. R&R**


	12. Chapter 9: Strength Part III

**This is the conclusion of chapter 9 Enjoy!**

****This is told in 3rd person

James cussed softly as Bellina dropped out of consciousness. She had lost a lot of blood in a short amount of time and he partly blamed himself. This was why he didn't want any of the girls coming after Scorpius and Albus. Although he had to admit that he would probably be dead now if they hadn't. James spared a tied up Rodolphus Lestrange one fleeting glance before standing up with Bellina in his arms. It was near impossible to see through the smoke and the fire he had barely been aware of before was suddenly closing in on them. James only vaguely remembered where the door had been and it was impossible to find it now. Hoping things would just work out he stumbled in the direction away from the fire only to bump into someone almost immediately.

"James!" his cousin Rose never looked so happy to see him, but her smile dropped as she realized who he was holding.

"What happened to Bellina?" Swallowing his guilt James shook his head.

"No time for this Rose. We need to find the others and get out of here."

Rose nodded her head then pointed her wand into the air.

"Avis." Three small yellow birds appeared from no where and immediately took off in three different directions. Grabbing hold of James' arm she pulled him in a fourth direction while dissipating the smoke in front of her.

"Bellina had told us to escape but we couldn't leave the two of you. That and we can't get the door opened."

James cussed to himself. The only true exit from this room was the two giant doors at the end. Any other door led to nothing but small windowless rooms. Without a way to escape they would all burn.

"What about the death eaters?" A tall dark shape now loomed in front of them and James was able to make out three figures standing in front of it: his siblings and Scorpius.

"They disappeared."

Lilly was banging on the door rage all over her face.

"Deprimo! Deprimo!" Lilly's close ranged spells left two enormously large holes in the door in front of her. She gaped at it for two seconds before Rose was suddenly pushing everyone through the holes and down the corridor.

"Run!" she screamed without explanation. After years of learning that when Rose tells you to do something you should probably do it, the other four took off after her. The fire that had been started by Rose and controlled by Rodolphus had slowly been dieing out from lack of oxygen in the enclosed throne room. With two suddenly large holes in the door oxygen poured into the space feeding the fire and causing a rather large fireball to consume the remainder of the doors and chase the Hogwarts students down the corridor. A quick turn down a side corridor saved them from the worst burns and the possibility of burning to death.

"Bloody hell." Albus snarled. He had not quite made it around the bend when the fire had caught up and it had burned through his clothes and several layers of skin.

"Augumenti." Al hissed as his little sister soaked his wound. Rose and James stood nearby trying to stop the bleeding from Bellina's body with James' robe. She was in bad shape. Scorpius stood further down the corridor ignoring all of them.

"Shit." James rubbed wearily at his face as Rose managed to conjure some bandages. He watched as Lilly helped her wrap up the worst of Bellina's wounds.

"The next time you two disappear you're on your own." He growled at his brother. Albus didn't say anything. He looked tired and just a tad bit scared. While the fireball had been a instantaneous thing there was still a fire and they were still lost in these underground tunnels with the possibility of more death eaters around. Everybody was weary and if Bellina didn't get help soon she would die and James was not about to let that happen.

"Lumos." The sudden light from Scorpius' wand caused James to turn and walk over to him.

"What are you doing?"

Instead of answering Scorpius pointed to the ground. In the light of his wand a sparkling trail of powder disappeared down the corridor.

"What is that?"

"You mean you don't know? It's your uncle's invisible powder. Shows up only under a lumos spell. Rose stole his prototype."

James stared blankly at his cousin's boyfriend. Did he just say Rose stole?

"I forgot about that." Rose said coming up behind them, "I made a trail after the death eaters first found us. This'll lead us all the way back to the place where the tunnels split into five separate ones."

James stared at her in awe and amazement. It was official, without Rose Weasley they would all be screwed. Now he could understand when his father said that without Aunt Hermione he wouldn't have made it passed his first year.

"Lead the way Scorpius, Rose." He hurried back to Bellina and scooped her up. Her breathing was becoming shallower, "And let's hurry the hell out of here."

Scorpius led the way running down the corridor, his wand trained on the thin trail of sparkling powder. As they approached a corner Rose brought him up short.

"Homenum revelio." Rose only allowed him to continue when her wand glowed red. The chances of a death eater encounter was more then likely.

Ten minutes of hard running and suddenly Scorpius stopped short. A few feet in front of him was the archway that led to the clearing they had been aiming for. Along with the clearing were voices softly arguing. This wasn't good.

"Who's there?" Apparently their footsteps had not gone unnoticed.

"Shit." James mumbled. If it came to a fight they would be in deep trouble.

"Daddy?" Rose took two steps passed Scorpius toward the figure that was hidden behind a lit wand.

"Rosie?" The wand was lowered to reveal a much disheveled Ronald Weasley. He took a step toward his oldest child but was suddenly stopped by her wand.

"Rose?" Albus and Scorpius were staring at her in confusion but she ignored them.

"Professor McGonagall recently called me to her office to discuss a very important matter with me. What was it that she asked me and what was my answer?"

Ron looked confused for a split second before answering.

"She asked if you wanted to graduate a year early and you said no."

"She What?" Scorpius and Albus yelled.

"I didn't want to tell you." She said offhand. They stared at her incredulously. At that moment Harry Potter stepped around his best friend and wrapped his arms around his daughter sighing in relief.

"McGonagall sent us the message as soon as she received Rose's message. She tried to stop you but you were already gone." He explained as he hugged each and every one of them except James.

"Piers! Get over here. Bellina needs medical attention."

James sank to the ground, Bellina still in his arms, suddenly overwhelmed. To find help so suddenly was a little unnerving and James could see that he wasn't the only one that thought so.

Albus was tense, his fists clenching and unclenching repeatedly. Scorpius and Rose stood together, their backs pressed up against one of the walls. Lilly stood openly hostile, her wand gripped tightly in her right hand and the stolen death eater's wand in the other. Piers turned out to be a small weedy man, constantly pushing glasses up his nose. As he stepped closer James wrapped an arm tighter around Bellina and pointed his wand at the man.

"James?" His 'father' and 'uncle' stared at him questioningly before both of them toppled over in a flash of red light.

"Stupefy!" The man called Piers toppled over before he realized Rose and Scorpius had attacked his allies.

"Death eaters?" Albus asked quietly. Lilly shrugged.

"Does it matter? They weren't dad and Uncle Ron that's for sure."

"But what about Rosie's question?" Al protested.

"McGonagall never called me into her office. Though I have to admit that could have been a true scenario."

"So the answer to your question was 'she didn't'?" Al looked slightly horrified.

"Yes why?"

"That's a horrible question to ask someone if you're trying to prove if they're friend or foe."

"Not really. This man over thought the answer trying to make it fit with my personality. Dad's answer would have been something along the lines of 'McGonagall called you into her office?'."

James' head spun as he tried to wrap his mind around the pointless conversation going on.

"Um is there anyone else in that clearing?" Rose and Al looked at him startled. They had completely lowered their guard forgetting the exact situation that they were in.

"No. It was just these three." Lilly called from the entranceway.

"How did they manage to look and act just like our dads?"

"No time for that." James said getting to his feet. He checked Bellina's pulse before picking her up. Despite how long it had been since their fight with Rodolphus Lestrange she was still breathing.

"We need to pick a tunnel and get out of here."

The five students stepped into the clearing to face four other tunnel entrances. But before they could even open their mouths to speak, each one dropped to the floor, all hit with the stunners that had lit up the four tunnels seconds after they stepped out.

**Oh No! Another cliffhanger...**

**Last chapter coming soon**


	13. Chapter 10: Beginnings and Endings

**Hey everybody. Well this is it, the last chapter in my story. I want to thank everyone for reading, and everyone for reviewing. Enjoy**

The sun rose early on the last day of Hogwarts' school year. Students rose early all around the castle preparing for the seventh years' graduation. The graduating class themselves were up early from either nerves or excitement. It was the perfect day to start a new chapter in their lives and to end an old one.

I sat in a hospital wing bed watching the sun rise, all silent except the gentle snores from Lilly and Rose and the not so gentle ones from Albus. Scorpius sat next to me, his head resting on the bed and his hand tightly grasping mine even in his sleep. James lay stretched out next to me, one arm tucked beneath his head the other resting gently across my waist.

It's been two weeks since the chaos in the tunnels beneath Malfoy grounds. I personally have only been awake for the last few days. Blood loss had nearly put me into a coma and if we hadn't received help when we did I might not have made it at all.

I missed a lot of information in the week and a half that I was out and the last couple of days have been nothing but bringing me up to speed and throwing around some general thoughts of the future. Now we simply waited for the end of the year so that we could go home. So let me update your knowledge.

The three men posing as Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley and the Ministry healer turned out to be death eaters using an unknown spell. The Ministry is currently looking into this spell although they believe that it may be Dark Arts related. The stunners that had knocked out my cousin and friends had all been by aurors with the real Harry Potter. They had been waiting to get the three death eaters but had hit us instead since we had already taken out the death eaters. McGonagall had immediately sent Mr. Potter a message through patronus as soon as she realized we had already left the castle. The Auror department had arrived at Malfoy Manor just after we had descended into the tunnel that led us to the death eaters. Malfoy Manor was taken back from the few death eaters inside in short order. Unfortunately since no one knew about the tunnels it had taken the aurors longer to find us and it had only happened by accident. While searching the garden an auror had stumbled, fell and quite literately gone through the secret door that Scorpius and I had used as children. By that time the six of us were already fighting for our lives in the underground throne room. Speaking of that, it turns out that an old castle from the middle ages used to be on the land that is Malfoy grounds. Apparently our ancestors decided that a castle was too old-fashioned and so buried it underneath the ground. Either that or there is something else down there that they didn't want anyone else knowing about. I personally think the second option is more likely.

The tunnels are long, winding and there are millions of them which is why we were pretty much on our own even though there were aurors so close. The fire that had been started in the throne room had died out not long after that one fireball chased us through the corridor. Stone simply will not burn unless magically forced. Many death eater bodies were recovered from that room, not one of them with a wand. Rodolphus Lestrange's body was also recovered nearly unrecognizable by the fire. He may have been my biological father but that's something I'd rather never think about again. Draco was and always will be my true father. Even so I still find that knowing who my biological father is is shocking and somewhat disturbing, but can you blame me?

The Auror department couldn't get much out of the few death eaters that were captured. We do know that we weren't the original targets, Mr. Potter was. It seems that the thought of screwing over my already long dead grandmother by killing her descendants was appealing to Rodolphus Lestrange. James, Lilly and Albus were supposed to be used as bait, most likely killed in the end, but needed to lure Harry Potter to Malfoy Manor. As you can see it didn't quite work out that way. That little file Draco had left for me I handed over to Mr. Potter as soon as I was able. It would really do more good with him then sitting, shrunken, in my pocket. Mr. Potter doesn't believe that Rodolphus Lestrange was really in charge of all this, it had to be someone else. Who that someone may be is still being looked into. That however is no longer my worry. My biggest worry now is that in a few short hours I'll no longer be a student of Hogwarts and will need to make my own way in the world.

I smiled as I felt James' arm tighten around my waist and as the others around me stirred awake. It's a scary thought, being on my own, but somehow I think I'll get through it. After all I have a great family, friends and boyfriend. What more could a girl ask for? Yeah don't worry about me, I'll be just fine, but don't think this is the last you've heard of me. No, this is only the beginning of the drama, the love, and the adventures. Trust me, I'm just getting started.

Until next time dear friends,

_Bellina Marie Black_

_****_**I know it was short but not to worry. As Bellina has said it is not the end. Stay tuned for Bellina's next story, which will be out as soon as I find a name for it...**


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